


and i will find you

by jilliancares



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Coffee Shops, College, Dimension Travel, Disney, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Galaxy Garrison, Galtean, Happy Ending, Hogwarts, Internet Friends, M/M, Mermaids, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pirates, Role Reversal, Roommates, Smut, Soulmates, Theatre, Vampires, Werewolves, i'll add them as we go along, occasional smut, this fic is gonna have a WHOLE lot of tropes, thunderpike, venom universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-10-14 21:33:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 58,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17516246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilliancares/pseuds/jilliancares
Summary: After a run-in with an angry queen, Keith is left to travel through alternate realities — ones that are entirely too good to be true — because in each and every one of them, he's datingLance. Keith struggles to find his way back to his own reality, all while trying not to fall more and more in love with Lance in every new one he experiences.(Prompted by the February Klance writing challenge!)





	1. home

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys!!! yes, i just started a new chaptered fic yesterday. yes, i'm starting another one today. if all goes well, i'll be updating this every day of february!!! i mean like,, i'll have classes and hw and stuff, so anything could happen, but i tend to be pretty good with this stuff. if you've read my fic 'if you find you're falling' (written in 30 days w/ 30 prompts!!) then you can have an idea of what to expect from this! i really hope you guys enjoy!!! <3

“For all intents and purposes…” Lance said, grinning wickedly with his blaster pressed to Keith’s forehead. _“This is the end.”_

Keith raised an eyebrow. Lance and his stupid, needless monologues. He’d be much better at sparring if he didn’t waste precious seconds of every battle _informing Keith_  that he had won. “Unlikely,” Keith said, entertaining him anyway.

Lance squawked, indignant. “What do you _mean_  ‘unlikely’?!” he scoffed. “I have my _gun_  to your _head_. You’re dead, Mullet!”

With a roll of his eyes, Keith swung his foot and knocked Lance’s feet out from under him. Lance went down with a screech, ending up on his back on the training deck as Keith pinned him, his sword to Lance’s throat and Lance’s hands pressed to the floor above his head, his blaster having skidded out of reach.

“I—you—that… You cheated!” Lance spluttered.

“Sure, I did,” Keith said sarcastically. His tone was flat, as was his expression, but his insides were anything but. It felt like his intestines were squirming around in his stomach, his lungs filled with dragonflies, his heart pounding an erratic rhythm in his chest.

“You admit it!” Lance cried. His chest was heaving, his hands struggling uselessly against the hold Keith had on him.

Keith was just grinning triumphantly. Though Lance didn’t — and probably wouldn’t ever — feel the same way about Keith that Keith felt about him, he was glad they at least had this. In the past, they’d bickered a lot, mostly thanks to Lance’s made up rivalry, but they’d come a long way since they’d first found the Blue Lion, since they’d first wound up in space. Now, Keith knew he had a bond with everyone. With Lance.

Suddenly, his fingers spasmed, and Keith was releasing Lance, curling in on himself as his entire body _glitched_. And not for the first time, either. Lance didn’t take advantage of his newfound weakened position, just sitting up slightly and gripping Keith’s shoulders as he groaned.

“Again?” he asked.

“It’s fine,” Keith said, trying to play it off. It wasn’t fine. Not really.

This — _whatever this was_  — had been happening ever since they’d visited the planet Exrus. It was another easy mission of Coalition recruiting — in and out, one and done. Except Keith had ended up insulting the queen, somehow.

Okay, well, maybe not _somehow_. The princess had approached him, and Keith had turned down her advances without a thought. He was a paladin of Voltron, for one thing — he couldn’t afford to waste his time entertaining a relationship with some random girl from some random planet. And he was _gay_ , for another.

But the princess had been humiliated, and the queen infuriated, and she’d demanded payment. The Exrusians — a telepathic, magical sort of species — were one that Keith never hoped to encounter again.

The queen had demanded to see his deepest, darkest secrets, and then she’d been rooting through his head, making Keith’s knees weak as horribly embarrassing images of him and Lance flitted through his mind, unbidden.

“Interesting,” she’d said, once she’d had her fill. Keith had sank to the ground, his every limb twitching, his brain drained.

“Ughh…” he’d groaned, barely hearing the clamoring of his friends behind him.

“What’d you do to him?!” someone’s voice — loud, shrill — had demanded. Keith’s head had been throbbing too hard to decipher who it’d belonged to.

“Nothing, yet,” the queen had said, sounding amused. “Soon, he shall see. He will be given everything he desires; and then it shall be taken from him.”

“That’s cruel,” Allura had growled.

“Perhaps,” the queen had said loftily. “But now we are willing to join your Coalition. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

And, well — yeah. It was what they’d wanted. And when Hunk and Lance had come to help him to his feet, the throbbing in his head had lessened. In a matter of minutes, he’d felt fine. An entire day had passed and most of them had forgotten about the event entirely, thanks to nothing coming from it.

But in the following days, Keith had started… glitching, for lack of a better word. His nerves seemed to ignite, to shift all around him and leave him feeling dizzy and winded, stretched and out of place. He had no idea what was going on, although he had an inkling...

“Keith, are you sure you’re okay?” Lance’s worried voice cut in, and Keith realized he was _right there_ , his eyes swimming into view in front of Keith’s face. “You look really pale.”

Keith was sweating — he could feel it all over his skin — but despite this, he felt cold. He shivered.

“Lance…” he said, and his voice sounded croaky. He was thirsty. “I don’t…”

“You don’t what? Keith?” Lance demanded, except his voice sounded far away.

“The world…” Keith said, trying his best to describe what he was feeling. “It’s dissolving…”

“Oookay, that’s not good,” Lance said, the worried edge to his voice taking prominence now. “Up we get.”

Keith let out a huff of surprise as he was lifted into the air. When had Lance gotten that _strong_? The entire room was spinning around him, like he was glued to the center of a dreidel, watching the walls whip past him again and again and again. What the hell was happening?

“Hurts,” Keith breathed out, letting his head loll against Lance’s shoulder. His breaths felt labored.

“I know, buddy, I know,” Lance said quickly. He was a ship, cresting the onslaught of waves and weathering a storm. Or maybe he was just walking down the hall. Either felt plausible, right then.

Every time Keith blinked, he saw something different. He felt like he was on drugs, except he’d never actually been on them before. Vivid colors and scenes flashed before his eyes. _Blink_. A crowded city street, people pushing past him on all sides. _Blink_. Deep, dark blue. A trail of bubbles floating up, up, up… _Blink_. A drink pressed into his hand. _Blink_. A wide smile, white teeth, a head thrown back in laugher. _Blink_. Blue. Blue. Blue. With every blink, more blue — eyes of the same color, shape, and size — unchanging despite everything Keith saw before him.

“Lance…” Keith said, breathless, amazed. “Where are we?”

“We’re almost there buddy, just hang on, okay? Hang on.”

“Okay.”

“Hang on!”

Keith wrenched his eyes open, feeling immediately disoriented, because… he was standing? All the dizziness, the pain, the confusion — it was gone. Replacing it was music — _what? They hadn’t heard music from Earth in years_  — and a clamoring of voices. Keith could smell… coffee? And not that horrible kind Hunk had tried to create. No offense.

“Hang on!” Lance’s voice called out again, and Keith’s eyes darted over to him, widening in confusion. Lance was wearing a uniform. An apron and a hat. He had what looked like flour smeared on his cheek and he was holding back a wave of angry customers with a single hand. He glared back at Keith.

“You done daydreaming, _guapo_? We’ve got customers!”

“I… what?” Keith managed, his voice small. Lance jabbed a finger in his direction. “Coffee. Customers. Our _job_? I’m not tryna get fired today, buddy.” With that, he turned back around, smiling politely at the customer before him as he typed something into the cash register. It dinged.

Keith pinched himself. He didn’t wake up.

The world was spinning again, but not because of whatever had happened last time. Surprise and confusion were taking their toll on him, because for whatever reason… he was working in a coffee shop. With _Lance_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!!! i'm super excited about this WHOOP (if you can't tell by me posting this prologue Several Days before february)
> 
> follow me on tumblr (@jilliancares) and twitter (@jacecares) for all sorts of fun!! i'll probably be tweeting about this a whole lot as asking for opinions and stuff!!! <3


	2. coffee shop au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!! happy february! i was gonna post this after my classes but i got too excited,,, so here i am. enjoy!!! see y'all tomorrow!

Everything was definitely moving too fast. Keith couldn’t even begin to understand what was going on, but Lance kept sending him these urgent looks, so he figured at least he wasn’t alone in this. Wherever he was, he must’ve managed to bring Lance with him.

Even still, he went through a mental checklist — one that Pidge had compiled after discovering that Honerva could play mind tricks. Apparently, there were certain things about reality that became distorted when what you thought was reality was actually fabricated. Keith looked at the clock, counted his fingers, examined his surroundings. Time moved at a normal pace, his hands looked exactly as he remembered them, and he didn’t recognize this coffee shop at all. If this was all just in his head, even if someone else was doing it to him, they’d have to pull from his own experiences. There’d be _something_  recognizable.

Except the only recognizable thing here was Lance.

The only coffee machine Keith had ever operated before had been his dad’s ancient and definitely broken one back home, but Keith tried his best to help Lance (who somehow seemed to know exactly what he was doing) with all of the orders. It felt like hours before the line of customers finally died down, and by then Keith’s anxiety had been masked by stress and a strange sense of acceptance. He guessed that that wasn’t that odd, these days. After living through all the shit he’d lived through, you kind of learned how to take strange things in stride.

“Where are we?” Keith asked, once he finally got a chance. He’d inched closer to Lance and whispered the question, looking furtively around the coffee shop. Maybe this place was connected to Lance’s memories, and that was why he seemed so comfortable in it. Why he didn’t seem to be questioning it. Maybe this whole mindscape really was tricking Lance, even though in the past, Keith had never actually worked in a coffee shop with him. Mind tricks could be debilitating, that way. Could make things that definitely weren’t normal seem completely in the ordinary. Keith was almost surprised that he’d realized this was all a farce so easily.

Except Lance was looking at him like he was insane.

“Keith? Are you okay?” Lance said, his voice laced with worry. Except Keith couldn’t remember how to speak because Lance was cupping his face, his thumb caressing Keith’s cheek as his eyes bored into his own. “Babe?” he prompted further once Keith didn’t answer.

“W-What?” Keith spluttered, and his world view shattered once more. This… This couldn’t be his Lance. His Lance didn’t cup his cheek. Didn’t call him _babe_. Because even if this was all some sort of mind kidnapping, that wouldn’t make Lance think that they were suddenly dating. So where the hell was he? And who the hell was this other Lance?

“If you’re feeling out of it or something, we can call someone else in. Beg Pidge to take your shift, maybe. Are you feeling hot?” And then Lance placed the back of his hand against his forehead, his mouth turned down in concern.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Keith said, because inexplicably, he knew he shouldn’t let this other Lance in on what was going on. It would just confuse him. “I was just joking,” Keith said feebly, and Lance scoffed.

“When the hell are you gonna get better at making jokes, cariño? I mean, you’re dating _me_. The joking _master_.”

“Sure, Lance,” Keith said sarcastically, earning himself an indignant squawk. Meanwhile, he tried to figure out what in the ever-loving hell was going on. Why was he _here_? It felt like some sort of alternate universe.

And then the words poured through him with sudden clarity, leaving him shivering in their wake.

_He will be given everything he desires; and then it shall be taken from him._

Oh no… this couldn’t be _that_ , could it?!

“You’ll regret that, Kogane,” Lance said, but the words were accompanied with a grin and none of their usual bite. And then, quick as a flash, he leaned in. He just kissed the corner of Keith’s mouth — more of a peck than anything, really — but it still stole Keith’s breath away, still left him standing there with his knees shaking and his palms sweaty. Holy shit.

In this… _reality_ … he and Lance were an actual, for real, item. That was undeniable. Also probably undeniable was the fact that he was here because of the queen of Exrus.

Okay, he was definitely shaking now. Because this was  _cruel_. He was going to have to spend however long with this Lance from an alternate universe. A Lance that probably loved him, if this was really supposed to reflect his deepest desires. He could feel his heart sinking, and he just wanted to curl in on himself.

Because unless he wanted to explain to this Lance that he wasn’t from this reality, that he wasn’t his real boyfriend, and that traveling through realities was even _possible_ … then he would have to play along. He would get to play out all his stupid little fantasies only to return back home to a Lance that felt nothing for him.

Cruel.

It was hard to believe that he and Lance were even dating in a different reality, but when there were infinite realities to choose from, he figured it must not have been impossible for the queen to find the _one_  where they were. And then he would return home. Everything he’d ever wanted would be “taken from him”.

“Babe, can you make me a coffee? I think I might die of exhaustion,” Lance said, turning away from the cash register where he’d just rung up another customer. He was making their drink this time, thank God, because Keith had no real idea how to operate any of the machines.

“Sure,” Keith said, except the word came out kind of breathless, because Lance had called him _babe_  again. And because of his revelation that he was in an alternate reality. That he was dating _Lance_  in this alternate reality. That he had no idea when he would be able to go back home.

He stepped over to the coffee machine and filled up a mug before peeking over at Lance. He would probably like his coffee sweet, right? He was always filling up on sweets at whatever alien banquets they found themselves at.

Unsure, Keith put a dash of milk in the mug before emptying two sugar packets into it on a guess. When Lance had handed the customer’s drink over the counter with a, “Have a good day!”, Keith pressed the mug into Lance’s hands, which Lance took gratefully. And then he took a sip.

Keith watched as Lance’s nose wrinkled, his eyes flicking up above the rim of his mug to regard Keith with amusement. “You alright there Kogane? You’ve been super out of it today.”

“I’m fine,” Keith lied. With any luck, he’d wake up back in his bed tomorrow morning. Or maybe he’d glitch out of this even sooner than that. Honestly, the sooner the better, because just seeing Lance look at him like that was driving him insane. He’d never see that look again, the way his eyes crinkled along the sides, the way his lip twitched up just the barest amount. The way his eyes flooded with such _warmth_  when he looked at Keith. He’d never see that on the real Lance.

“So that means you’re just trying to make me drink practically black coffee again?” Lance demanded. For the first time since he’d been transported here, Keith was totally distracted.

“There’s milk and sugar in there!” he protested.

“Yeah, _barely_ ,” Lance claimed, before striding past Keith and grabbing a horrifying amount of sugar packets. He proceeded to dump them all in his coffee before simply swirling the mug around and taking a sip. His eyes fluttered shut as he did, a hum reverberating out from his throat in enjoyment. “Yum, just how I like it.”

“You’re an abomination.”

“You love me,” Lance claimed, his eyes opening to pin Keith with a penetrating stare. God, he _knew_. Was Keith cursed to be in love with Lance in every universe?

“Unfortunately,” Keith said, and Lance’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Wow,” he said. “You’re really gonna admit that _now_? After all your attempts to fake-deny it?”

 _Fuck_ , Keith thought, followed by, _sorry alternate universe me._  But Lance was grinning, and Keith couldn’t take it back. Not when he’d made Lance look like _that_.

“Uhh,” he said intelligently, but Lance was fucking _beaming_. He glanced around, apparently taking in their continued lack of customers, before reaching out for Keith’s hand. He placed his mug on a counter as he tugged Keith towards the back, carelessly shoving open a door before whirling around and pressing Keith against it.

“You’re evil,” he claimed, but he was still grinning wickedly. “You know that?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith claimed. He felt breathless. Lance was so close, and he was looking at him with this intense kind of heat in his eyes. His hands were hot on the skin just above Keith’s waist. When had he pushed his shirt up?

“I love you too, loser,” Lance said, before leaning in. Keith could do nothing to stop it, not that he actually tried.

When Lance’s lips collided with his, his entire body melted, so he was lucky that he had that door to lean against. He clung to Lance as Lance’s tongue snuck into his mouth. Fuck, Lance had bragged about being a good kisser in the past — something that had driven Keith to near insanity just thinking about it — but he’d never imagined that he’d ever get to experience it. Apparently, Lance’s kissing ability traversed universes.

He was panting by the time Lance pulled away, though he didn’t leave entirely. He began pressing kisses against Keith’s jaw, in a line down his throat, and Keith was helpless to do anything but cling to him. He might as well enjoy it, right? He was never going to experience this again.

And then — _ding_!

They broke apart. Lance was frowning, glaring at the door behind Keith’s head, before he finally stepped away. He reached over and straightened out Keith’s shirt.

“I’ll get that,” Lance said. “ _You_ … you stay right here,” he said importantly, jabbing his finger into Keith’s chest. And then he pressed the quickest of kisses against his lips before maneuvering Keith out of the way and slipping back out through the door.

Keith just stood there, panting, as he tried to regain his composure.

And then he glitched.

“Fuck,” Keith panted, dropping to his knees, and then his hands, as he knelt there on the floor, his entire body trembling. _Too soon_ , said a voice in his mind. He just needed to be here for a few more minutes… Just needed to kiss Lance a few more times before he went back home.

He knew he wouldn’t get a chance, though. Lance was outside that door, dealing with a customer, and Keith could already feel it building up in his body. He was trembling, his nerves twitching inside him, and he clenched his eyes shut, already knowing that when he opened his eyes he wouldn’t be here anymore.

Somehow, he found himself dreading it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my on twitter @jacecares!!!


	3. galtean au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning y'all!!! hope you have a great day!

_“What’s wrong with him?” said a voice, far, far away…_

Keith gasped as he opened his eyes. Somehow, finding himself in an unexpected place was more confusing the second time.

Because _what_? Hadn’t he been meant to go _home_  after this?

This time, however, it wasn’t just his surroundings that were different. _He_  was different too. He noted this as he examined his hands, a pale purple on the insides and a dark purple on the outsides, covered in a fine layer of fur that got thinner the closer to his fingers. And then someone was speaking to him, and Keith’s ear twitched towards the sound automatically, and it took every single ounce of restraint in his body to keep from reaching up and touching his ears, because normally they didn’t _twitch_.

“Are you listening to me?”

Keith gaped. He couldn’t help it. Sitting beside him was Shiro — _thank God_ , a distant part of his mind said — but he was _Galra_  — _aaand take it back_.

“Um,” Keith said, forcing his mouth shut only for it to fall back open again. It was just _weird_. Shiro still looked like Shiro — he had a robot arm and a scar and his famous white patch — but the rest of him was purple. His eyes were _yellow_. “Yes?” Keith finally managed.

“Keith,” Shiro sighed, in that stern, disappointed voice of his. And damn, that worked in every universe, apparently.

Which brought Keith back a step, actually. How was _this_  one of his deepest desires? Him and Shiro sitting here, in some sort of ship, the both of them Galra? Were his deepest desires just… his friends? Were _they_  going to be taken from them?

“I _said_ ,” Shiro continued, obviously exasperated with Keith, “that we’re almost there. And you need to keep control of your temper. We can’t have another mishap like last time.”

“We won’t,” Keith said, following a dialogue that was eerily familiar. He couldn’t count the number of times Shiro had reprimanded him for letting his temper get the best of him when they were trying to become allies with some planet or other. They were always assholes first, okay?!

Keith sat tight and tried to accept that he was in another reality instead of his own. That he wasn’t part Galra, but full. That Shiro somehow was too. That they were on some ship to some place he still wasn’t sure of, with neither of them piloting. Maybe that was the weirdest part of it all.

But finally, Keith felt the ship land, and he felt his eyes widen when the door whooshed open, granting Keith the view of the outside. Because it was unmistakable, after all the books and holograms he’d seen in his time on the castle-ship — this was _Altea_.

Shiro sneezed. “I hate this planet,” he said grumpily. “It’s too bright. And there are too many flowers.”

“I hate flowers,” Keith said, maybe playing along a little too hard, because Shiro shot him an amused look. They exited the ship, an elegant castle just on the other side of it, and led an expedition to its front doors, though the people _(Galra)_  following them just seemed to be a bunch of guards.

At the doors, two Alteans crossed their spears in front of them, the metal letting out a _clang_. Keith’s ears did that weird twitching thing again. This time, he couldn’t help it. He let his fingers rise up and touching his ears, which were _huge_. Furry on the outside and smooth as velvet on the inside.

“Stop messing with your crown,” Shiro muttered at him out of the corner of his mouth. Body going stiff with surprise, Keith let his fingers inch a little more inward before they came in contact with hard metal. He hurriedly whipped his arm back down.

“State your business,” said one of the guards.

“You know why we’re here,” Shiro scoffed, sounding completely unlike himself. The guards sneered at him, but then they lifted their spears and they were through. Shiro seemed to know his way around and Keith found himself taking him in more attentively this time, past the color of his skin and amount of hair on his body. How had he not noticed him wearing a _crown_? And his clothes were, like… expensive. Which made sense, Keith realized. If they were princes.

Before he knew it, they were pushing heavy doors open, the guards in front of them not bothering to stop them this time, and stepping into an echoing throne room.

“How nice of you to finally arrive,” a deep voice greeted them. Keith had to stamp down on his surprise when he recognized King Alfor. And beside him: Allura. And beside _her_ …

Keith choked. One of his guards rushed forward and shoved a bottle of water into his hand, which Keith drank hastily. Because beside Allura was _Lance_. Wearing a crown and with shining blue marks on his cheeks. What the fuck?

Shiro marched across the room and Keith followed beside him, still not quite sure what was going on. But then the deliberations came.

From the sound of it, the Galra and the Alteans weren’t quite allies. They were more like… enemies with an agreement. Numbers and decisions flew over Keith’s head, Shiro harsh and demanding and Alfor equally so. Apparently, Keith and Shiro were representing Daibazaal’s king. _No emperor, then,_  Keith realized.

“We were promised five shipments of Xylanium on your last visit,” Alfor said.

Keith heard Shiro scoff, muttering under his breath, “I knew he would bring that up…” But then he cleared his throat and projected his voice. “There was an issue with the last shipment.”

“I’m aware of that,” Alfor said, looking unamused. “But considering we held up our side of the bargain, I figure there should be repayment.”

“We have a lot of places we’re supposed to ship Xylanium,” said Shiro.

Alfor narrowed his eyes. “And?” he prompted.

“And we have a limited supply,” Shiro said, his tone short. Snippy. “We can’t control whether our ships are attacked by pirates. We’ll be sure to add more defense for your next shipment, but we can’t make up for your loss.”

Alfor let out a short, angry breath. “Very well,” he said.

This entire time, Lance had been glaring at Keith. Keith had just ignored him. It was hard to engage him like this, when he’d just come from a universe where the two of them had been making out. Every time he glanced over at him, he was met with Lance’s piercing stare as he sat there, looking so regal in his Altean clothes, wearing his Altean crown.

“I think that settles matters for today,” Shiro said, and then all of them were issuing their goodbyes, looking relieved. Once Keith and Shiro had made it out of the castle, Shiro let out a colossal sigh. “You barely talked in there,” he said.

“You told me to control my temper,” Keith pointed out, earning an eyeroll from Shiro.

“Sure, leave all the work to me,” he said. “Let’s just stroll through the streets a bit and keep up appearances, okay? If we split up, we can leave sooner.”

“Okay,” Keith said, hoping he’d be glitched out of here soon. This universe was _boring_. You know. In comparison to the one where he was dating Lance.

The two of them headed towards the streets, and the progression of guards following them hastily retreated at Shiro’s glower. Once at the road, Shiro nodded at Keith and turned left, and Keith turned right.

Altea was beautiful. His eyes were captured by every building on every street, jumping from homes to storefronts to little booths where venders were set up. He strolled along casually, breathing in the fresh air and watching as children shouted at each other and ran down the block.

All in all, it seemed like a pretty good place. You know, before someone grabbed his arm and yanked him into an alleyway, a knife pressed against his throat.

Keith was panting, his eyes wide and his hand fumbling against a back for a hidden blade that _wasn’t there_. The person before him was dressed in all black, their face thrown into shadow because of their hood, and Keith was helpless but to stand there at their mercy unless he wanted them to dig their dagger further into his throat.

“Jeez, love, you’re getting easier to sneak up on,” said a familiar voice.

“Lance?” Keith muttered, confused.

“That’s _your high prince of elegance and eternal beauty_  to _you_ ,” Lance said, obviously joking, before yanking his hood back. “Seriously, where are your guards? Usually it’s much harder to steal you away.”

“Shiro didn’t want them to come,” Keith said, dazed. So… they weren’t enemies? Lance’s eyes were twinkling, his marks practically glowing, and his lips were pulled up into this lazy smile, his entire demeanor speaking of familiarity.

Plus, he’d called Keith _love_.

“Well, good,” Lance huffed, grabbing Keith’s hand and pulling him into the very building they’d been leaning against. It was a pub, although it was empty except for the owner, apparently not to open until later. Lance waved hello to the woman behind the bar, apparently uncaring that he and Keith were being seen together despite the fact that whatever was going on between them was obviously a secret, and led Keith to a back staircase. “That just means there’s more time for us.” He shot Keith a grin over his shoulder after saying this, which Keith returned hesitantly. Lance didn’t seem to notice, probably because he’d already turned back around.

The two of them emerged onto the roof, much higher than the other buildings around it, and Lance plopped down on a little blanket that was already set up there, a basket placed carefully in its center.

“I missed you,” Lance sighed, and his arm flopped open in an obvious invitation. Keith sat down and scooted closer to him, letting Lance pull him near and press a kiss against his temple.

“I missed you too,” Keith said. And he certainly had, back when he’d thought Lance actually hated him. Apparently, all that glaring had just been for show. Lance leaned back, pulling Keith with him, and the two of them curled into each other on the blanket.

“When Allura’s the queen, we won’t have to hide anymore,” Lance said decisively. He said it in a way that made it sound like he’d said it a million times before.

“Good,” Keith said, meaning it. Any universe where Lance actually loved him… well, then they just deserved to be together, didn’t they?

Lance let out a barking laugh. “What?” he said, propping himself up on an elbow and leaning over Keith. His earrings dangled down by his chin, swinging over Keith’s face. “No, _Shiro won’t approve_  or _we have to stay a secret_?” He pitched his voice higher, obviously imitating some other version of Keith.

And Keith knew nothing about this universe, knew only the barest amount about his and Lance’s relationship, but… “You’re right,” he said. “When Allura’s queen… let’s be together.”

Lance huffed out a laugh, solely out of surprise. “Are you serious?” he said, grinning wide.

God, Keith really hoped he wasn’t just ruining different versions of his lives as he waltzed through them. But he couldn’t help it. He wanted to make Lance happy, wanted to pretend that all of this was _his_  while he was here. He knew it wouldn’t be for long. “Yeah,” Keith said.

And then Lance clambered on top of him, giggling as he pressed kisses all over Keith’s face. He was rambling, telling Keith how much he loved him, how he wouldn’t regret this, how everything would be perfect and how they could live together. Keith just laughed, pulling Lance closer and basking in it.

But then he was sucking in a breath as his insides went haywire.

“Am I hurting you?” Lance asked immediately, pulling away.

“No, you’re fine,” Keith said hastily. Fuck, why now? Why not during the endlessly boring meeting he’d had to suffer through?

Keith groaned. He could feel it rising up. Taking over. He felt like a carbonated drink, shaken and ready to explode.

“Keith, seriously, what’s wrong?”

Keith pressed his head against Lance’s shoulder. “Nothing,” he insisted, trying desperately to control his breathing. “I just love you so much. Okay?”

Lance laughed softly. “You know I love you too,” he said, his hand coming up to caress Keith’s ear. Keith just hoped his alternate self would stick with his promise. He clenched his eyes shut and held his breath.


	4. mermaid au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all!!! i promise some Deeper plot is coming up than just keith seeing how happy he and lance are in other universes, but we're not quiiite there yet ;)

_“He’s unresponsive…”_

Keith groaned, the pain from the glitch still lingering in his system. He thought he’d feel exhausted by now — he’d experienced almost an entire day, combined— but it was like the glitch was rejuvenating him. Like he didn’t need to sleep.

Finally, Keith opened his eyes, not sure whether he wanted to be back home or in another universe more.

His question was answered when he looked around the beach he was standing on — the sand cool beneath his bare feet in the evening air — and felt relief rush through him. Felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Maybe it was because here, in these other universes, Keith didn’t have to hide his feelings. Didn’t have to pretend to not be head over heels in love with Lance.

He looked around, waiting for Lance to appear. Because he would, right? First the coffee shop, then the weird Altean version of him. Assuming it happened again, and that they were in a relationship, then Keith knew that that would be the purpose of these little alternate reality visits. Because twice was a coincidence, sure, but three times… Well, that was a pattern.

Except Keith couldn’t find Lance anywhere. In fact, he couldn’t find _anyone_  anywhere. It seemed like he was out in the middle of nowhere, no houses or streetlights or anything to speak of some sort of civilization present. It was just him and the sand and the waves crashing loudly at the rocks before him.

“Lance?” Keith called, throwing caution to the wind. He wasn’t going to lie to himself and pretend like he wasn’t hoping Lance was here. Because maybe he was a little pathetic, having pined after his friend for so long and so hard that some random queen had felt the need to throw him into alternate realities so that he could get over it, but he wasn’t pathetic enough to try to deny it all.

Keith scrunched his toes in the sand, half expecting Lance to pop out from behind one of the surrounding rocks. He almost felt bad, being here when Lance — the real Lance — was stuck back on the castle with Keith’s probably dead-to-the-world body. Lance talked about the beach often. It was one of the places he missed the most.

“Keith!”

Keith spun around, looking for Lance, certain that had been his voice.

“Took you long enough,” Lance continued, and Keith followed the source of his voice, turning towards the water and squinting into the waves. Lance’s head was poking above them.

“What are you…” he began, curious as to why Lance was out there, but then a giant tail emerged from the water, slapping the surface and propelling Lance several feet forward. Shoving down his shock, Keith ventured closer towards the shore. He took a few steps into the water, his pants pulled up to his knees, and had to hold back a gasp when Lance got close enough to grab his ankles.

“I love your little toes,” Lance said, grabbing the toes in question and pinching them between his fingers.

“Yeah?” Keith said, stumbling a step forward when Lance tugged him, a mischievous grin on his face. Keith was hit with a sudden wave of realization.

Anything he did in these alternate universes... didn’t matter. Whatever he did would never affect him again, because he was in and out with practically no rhyme or reason.

For all intents and purposes, Keith was in a _bubble_. No matter what, when he went back to his own reality, nothing would be changed.

The thought was kind of freeing.

“So, are you ready?” Lance said, looking up at Keith expectantly.

“Um,” he said. He looked around desperately, but nothing about the abandoned beach provided him with any answers. “For what?”

Lance pouted, staring up at Keith with the saddest eyes. “You forgot?” he murmured, looking genuinely heartbroken.

“Of course not!” Keith said hastily, stumbling further into the water towards a Lance who had begun to drift away. He was soaked up to the thigh. “I was just, you know, making sure _you_  were ready.

Lance’s lips quirked up into a grin. “Of course I’m ready,” he scoffed. “I’ve only been waiting for this for, like, _forever_.”

Keith laughed nervously. He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

Lance reached out and grabbed Keith’s hands, tugging him further and further into the water until he was struggling to keep his head above the waves, his clothes soaked and billowing around his body.

“Okay, Red,” Lance said seriously. Keith raised an eyebrow, wondering how he had garnered the nickname without even the red lion to his name. “Teach me your human kissing ways.”

Keith coughed, clearing his throat and trying to hide his splutter of surprise.

“You still want to, right?” Lance said tentatively, looking worried.

“Of course!” Keith said, after he’d managed to regain his composure. “Just, uuhh, a little nervous, is all,” he said.

“But you’ve kissed people before,” Lance pointed out. It was true in his own universe as well. A few pecks and a few horrid make-outs. He’d never really experienced anything good until _Lance_. You know, in the coffee shop.

“Right,” Keith said. “But… I didn’t like them.”

“Then why would you kiss them?”

“I mean, I didn’t _dislike_  them,” Keith said. “But I didn’t like them like I like you.”

Lance’s cheeks went pink. His white teeth shown in the moonlight, his grin splitting his face. “You liiike me,” he sang quietly, pushing himself through the water until he was pressed up against Keith, his arms around his neck and his tail bumping into his legs every couple of strokes.

“Duh,” Keith said, but it came out as a whisper, interspersed with chuckles. It felt so different… so _good_ … being able to just tell Lance how he felt. But for the first time, he felt guilt as well. Because while he was here, where was the other Keith? He was in their bodies, sure, that much was obvious from the previous reality, but where did the other Keith  _go_? Did he wake up after all of this, confused and with memory loss? Was he trapped in his own mind right now, screaming at his inability to control himself? Or, come the time Keith was glitched away, would they not even realize something had happened? Would they think that it had been them in control the entire time?

For their sake, Keith hoped it was that last one. Because not doing the things Lance expected of him, such as kissing him like he'd apparently promised, might throw him under suspicion. Or at the very least, make Lance mad at him. And then when Keith left and the original Keith was here to remain, _he'd_  have to deal with the damage left behind. So really, Keith was just falling into their shoes and playing their part for both of their sakes. And if he felt mildly guilty that he was stealing this Keith's first kiss with Lance? Well, that would just have to be something he lived with.

“Show me the kissing,” Lance demanded, and his tail bonked against Keith’s legs with more force than before and then he was rising above him, arms still around his neck but tail moving swiftly, making him look down on Keith even more than usual.

“Okay,” Keith said, only to be suddenly thrust out of the water. Lance had grabbed him as he’d flung himself backward, so Keith was pressed against Lance, lying on his front on Lance’s chest as Lance floated on top of the waves, strangely buoyant. He folded his arms behind his head, looking the picture of relaxation. Keith clung to him, paranoid that he would somehow fall off, but Lance’s body held him perfectly fine, his tail moving gently as it propelled them along the waves.

“Ready?” Keith said, making Lance grin, his totally-cool-and-chillaxed expression melting off his face.

“Just get on with it!” he begged.

It was kind of difficult, getting the right leverage when he only had Lance to hold onto, but he ended up letting his legs dangle over either side of Lance’s stomach, planting his hands on his chest as he leaned down.

Lance’s eyes were already closed. He just laid there, lips parted and waiting. Keith realized Lance was holding his breath, his chest absolutely still underneath his hands, and he had to hold back a chuckle. Lance’s eyes were just the tiniest bit scrunched, likely in anticipation, and Keith finally gave it to him. He leaned in that last amount and pressed his lips to Lance’s for the second time, letting his eyes close as a breath finally whooshed out of Lance, his hands coming up to grip Keith.

“Keith,” Lance gasped, his fingers digging into Keith’s skin, pulling him closer and closer and closer, until Keith was completely flat against him, only one leg dangling off of him and both his hands holding Lance’s head, helping to angle it upward so they could actually kiss.

Lance groaned against his lips, wrapping one arm around Keith’s back and the other burying itself into his hair, before flipping them over. Keith immediately choked on water, kicking out and struggling under Lance’s weight as Lance realized what he’d done, yanking Keith back up to the surface.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” he was saying, holding Keith up and forcefully patting his chest instead of his back. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Lance,” Keith said, his voice a little raspy. He looked back towards the shore and had to hold in a gasp, realizing just how far in the distance it was. They hadn’t even been kissing for that long, but Lance’s tail must’ve been even more powerful than he had realized, having carried them so far out into the ocean.

“Don’t go back,” Lance said suddenly, his eyes intense as he looked at Keith. Keith’s legs were kicking in the water beneath them, helping to keep him afloat. “Just stay in the ocean with me forever.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Keith said, letting his hands come up to cup Lance’s face. “But I’ll always come back,” he promised. Lance leaned forward, letting their heads bonk together.

“You better,” he said, his arms wrapping around Keith and holding him close. He couldn’t tread water like this but it hardly mattered, Lance’s powerful strokes enough to keep them both afloat.

When Keith felt the sensation rise up within him, he just pressed his face into Lance’s shoulder and held on tight, already knowing what to expect.


	5. hogwarts au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> introducing some plot!!

_“…he just collapsed… can’t explain it…”_

Keith knew he was unlucky. That much was obvious from the fact that he’d been jumping through universes with no control. It only became all the more obvious, however, when he appeared in the middle of a lake. He’d at least thought that he would be _dry_  again when he showed up at the next place.

This soon became the least of his concerns, though, because when Keith examined his surroundings, he felt his mouth go dry. It just… it couldn’t be real. The castle before him… it looked _straight_  out of the movies…

“Hey, doofus!” a voice called, and Keith looked up, gaping at the figure swooping above him. On a _broom_. “I didn’t say you should actually _jump_!”

It was Lance, because of course it was. He was laughing uproariously, clinging to his broom which was jerking along precariously, barely controlled while he didn’t pay attention. Keith grumbled as he stomped out of the lake, his shoes sinking into the mud with every step. Finally, he emerged onto the shore, no longer able to deny what was obviously true.

Somehow, some _way_ … he was in the Harry Potter universe. That shouldn’t even be _possible_. He could accept the fact that he was glitching in and out of different realities, sure, but this one shouldn’t even have been _real_. It was just a book!

Regardless of whether this should or shouldn’t be possible, it was clearly happening. Lance descended right in front of him, dismounting his broom and pulling a wand out of his sleeve. He waved it, murmuring something, and Keith was suddenly dry.

“Better?” Lance said with a smirk.

“Barely,” Keith said, the banter coming naturally to him. He couldn’t help examining Lance, dressed in robes and holding a wand and wearing a green tie. The meaning of that one was unmistakable — at least to Keith, who’d read the Harry Potter series several times.

Lance was a Slytherin.

That just didn’t click in Keith’s brain. Because Lance — happy, selfless, _brave_  Lance — obviously belonged in Gryffindor. A glance at his own tie provided the information that that was where he himself was located, apparently.

“Come on,” Lance said, and Keith forced down a blush when Lance reached out to grab his hand, tugging him toward the castle. Once they got to the steps, Lance dropped his hand without a word and opened the front doors. He didn’t grab it again.

Once inside, Lance gave Keith a single, short nod, and disappeared down a hallway presumably leading toward the dungeons. Keith was left standing there, alone and confused. This was… different.

“Hey, Keith!”

Keith spun around, laying eyes on Hunk. His tie was yellow; that looked appropriate, at least.

“Hey, Hunk,” Keith said, sparing him a smile.

“Are you still up for studying with me in the library? McGonagall’s essay is killing me. 15 inches it _too much_.”

“Sure,” Keith said, internally panicking. He hoped whatever knowledge he had from the books would be enough to help Hunk. Or that Hunk wouldn’t question him suddenly relying on a bunch of books from the library. Together, they walked off down the hallway, Keith taking in everything around him, half wanting to see more and half hoping he glitched out of here sooner rather than later.

—

Something was wrong, that much was evident. Keith had been here much, much longer than anywhere else. He’d appeared in the morning, standing in that lake under Lance, and proceeded to spend the _entire day_  here. He’d studied with Hunk, played chess with Pidge, and complained about classes he’d never actually attended with Allura. All the while, he’d kept an eye out for Lance, except he never interacted with any of their friends, which was just _wrong_  — no matter the universe.

At dinner, Keith had managed to catch Lance’s eye across the hall, though only fleetingly. He hadn’t even nodded, this time. Just held eye contact for half a second before looking away again.

Now, Keith was lying in bed. He couldn’t believe he was about to _sleep_. Maybe he’d wake up somewhere else, though. He pulled his hangings shut and buried his face in his pillow, briefly entertaining the idea of waking up back in his own reality. Although with each alternate universe he showed up in, the less likely it seemed like he would be returning home any time soon.

When Keith awoke, despite his attempts to keep from getting his hopes up, he was disappointed. He was still lying in his bed in the dormitory, entirely unsure as to why he was still here. He’d been here far longer than anywhere else now, and he couldn’t figure out why.

_Was_  there some sort of reason as to why he usually glitched to the next universe? He’d thought it was entirely random, but now he wasn’t so sure. What did those other experiences have in common? He’d disappeared after kissing mermaid Lance. And the Lance in the coffee shop. But he hadn’t kissed the Altean Lance — not on the lips, anyway.

Did he leave after touching them, then? Except he’d held Lance’s hand yesterday. Was that not intimate enough?

He got the vibe that they were dating, in this universe. Secretly, sure, but what did that matter? Was he supposed to fix that problem?

Lips pursed, Keith thought harder. Had he fixed other problems? He’d merely taught the last Lance how to kiss. And assured him that he’d keep returning to the ocean to visit him. He’d promised the Altean Lance that they could be together in the future, that he’d tell Shiro about their relationship once Allura was queen.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, mind racing, breath coming faster. How had he helped the very first Lance? He’d made him a coffee, but Lance hadn’t liked it. He’d added more sugar, and it wasn’t like Keith had been intentionally trying to make him take it darker in the first place. He’d managed to worry him, had had him thinking that he was sick or something. And then he’d told him that he loved him.

Which… he’d apparently never said before, in that universe. And Lance’s entire being had seemed to glow.

Holy fuck. Was he supposed to be helping these Lance’s out? But _why_? Wasn’t this just a simple punishment for him? A way for the queen of Exrus to show him what he’d never obtain for himself? Or maybe this was just a way to further the punishment. To show him that he had the ability to help all these other versions of himself and Lance’s relationship, and yet he’d never be able to fix his own. Never be able to make it imitate the others.

Feeling newly determined, Keith got up and took a shower, grateful for the feeling of getting clean despite the fact that he didn’t necessarily feel like he was growing dirtier from reality to reality.

On his way to the dining hall, he tried to plan how he was going to accost Lance, how he was going to get him alone, but Lance found him first.

Someone gripped his elbow and pulled him behind a tapestry, reminding him abruptly of a different Lance — one with glowing blue marks and a crown perched atop his head — and a different dark space. A small alley and a smaller pub and a roof with a surprise picnic.

“Gotcha,” Lance said softly, his eyes twinkling in the dim lighting as his hands slid down Keith’s sides, having snuck under his robes.

“I was looking for you,” Keith admitted, and Lance snorted.

“You’re usually better at finding me,” he pointed out, which Keith didn’t argue. He didn’t doubt that this version of himself probably knew of all sorts of nooks and crannies and secret places to find Lance that he wasn’t aware of.

How was he going to fix this? And _what_  exactly was he supposed to fix? The fact that they were dating in secret? Then again, him and the Altean Lance had been dating in secret too. Then, maybe the fact that he didn’t seem to be friends with their friends? Although, Lance and Galra Shiro hadn’t been friends either…

God, this was hard. He needed to learn more about this Lance. Needed to figure out why he was in _Slytherin_.

“I want to spend the whole day with you,” Keith said, making Lance’s eyes widen in surprise, before his lip quirked up in amusement. No matter the universe, his expressions were the same. How strange was that?

“What, and skip all our classes?” Lance joked, his eyebrows raised. Huh. It must’ve been Monday, then, considering they hadn’t had classes the day before.

But, “Yes,” Keith said, sure it was the right course of action. He needed to learn about this new version of Lance. Needed to figure out how to help him, if that was really the way out of here.

Lance looked like he was entertaining the idea. His eyes were squinted, calculating. “Are you feeling all right, Kogane?”

“I feel great,” Keith lied. “What, is it bad I want to spend time with my boyfriend?”

Just like that, Lance’s expression shattered. Hardened. “You know that’s not what we are,” he said lowly. Keith could hardly fight the bubble of surprise emerging within him.

“Lance—”

Lance recoiled. “Don’t _call_  me that,” he snapped. “I know it’s different for you, seeing as you don’t have any parents to worry about, but _I do_. I’m — my parents have expectations for me. I’m supposed to end up with a nice, pureblood girl. You know this is just for fun. It’s nothing.”

Keith’s heart broke. That couldn’t be their destiny. Not after all the other realities Keith had experienced. It wasn’t _fair_. Lance… he clearly felt more for Keith than just simple attraction. This was so _strange_. He was used to a Lance who was proud of his sexuality, who flaunted his attraction for all genders constantly, who easily talked about anyone he saw to any friend he had. To someone like Keith, it was excruciating. Lance seemed to be attracted to everyone — everyone except him, anyway.

“I’m out of here,” Lance muttered, shoving past Keith and stepping out into the hallway. Keith watched him go, watched him glance both ways down the corridor before disappearing down it. He sighed.

How was he supposed to fix something like _this_? Something that must’ve been so ingrained in Lance, a knowledge he’d been forced to live with for entire years of his life?

In the end, Keith decided to stalk Lance. Perhaps it wasn’t ethical, but it at least provided some answers. See, the thing about Lance was he was good at talking. It came off differently in his own universe — usually more babbling, more run-on sentences, his mouth moving until he couldn’t breathe. But he still got the point regardless; usually ended up swaying people too. Here, it was different. Distinct and precise. The conversations he held with people were borderline manipulative. Not in the way that he was mean to them, or made them do things for him, but just… weirdly thoughtful.

Like, he convinced Flitwick that he had his essay complete but just wanted a little extra time, feeling like he could really expand on his thesis more if he could make it just a little bit longer. Excited for such a thought-out paper, and glad that Lance had asked him for an extension ahead of time, Flitwick readily agreed. Keith noticed Lance roll his eyes when he turned around, feeling sure that Lance hadn’t even begun his paper yet.

And it wasn’t just Flitwick, either. Keith vaguely recognized people from the Garrison. The way Lance talked to them was like he was in the long-run in some game. Like he was planting seeds in their minds that wouldn’t have to be harvested until much later.

Even more upsettingly, Keith overheard his conversation with a few other purebloods. One of them made a homophobic joke, and Lance laughed along with the rest of them, looking completely unbothered but for the miniscule tightening of the skin around his lips. Keith felt confident that no one but him would’ve noticed it. No one but someone who had stared at those lips for years, had categorized their every movement, their every smile and frown and smirk and grin. And that laugh — it was glaringly wrong.

By the time dinner rolled around, Keith felt confident in what he needed to do. Lance not being friends with their friends was a problem, sure, as was the fact that he didn’t even want to date Keith, but those were clearly just part of an even deeper problem. And they could probably be fixed in time, too, if Keith managed to fix the one that really needed addressing.

Lance had internalized homophobia.

And he was walking down the hallway, his hands in his robe pockets and his expression carefully blank. Careless.

For the first time, Keith pulled his wand out of his robes, wrapping his fingers around the handle and looking towards Lance. He really, really hoped that the magic of this universe wouldn’t reject him. The foreign, trespassing Keith.

_“Accio Lance!”_ he whispered, jabbing his wand in Lance’s direction. Immediately, Lance stumbled, his hands flying out of his pockets for balance, but he was close enough. Keith grabbed his arm and yanked him into an empty classroom, shoving him onto a chair and clambering onto his lap to keep him there.

“What — Keith?” Lance said, trying to shove Keith off only for Keith to hook his feet under the seat of the chair, stubbornly keeping himself there. “Come on, get off. Anyone could walk in.”

“Lock the door, then.”

He did. Lance pulled out his wand and flicked it towards the door, looking irritated. “What do you want?” he asked.

Keith fisted his hands in Lance’s robes. “How could what we feel be wrong?” he demanded.

Lance’s expression was constructed. Artificial. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do.”

“If you’ve developed feelings, that’s your own fault,” Lance said stubbornly.

“There’s nothing wrong with being bisexual.”

That, finally, pulled a reaction out of Lance. His eyes widened and his face reddened and he tried to struggle out from under Keith again, but Keith just held on tighter. “Listen to me,” he begged.

“Kogane, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lance said gruffly. Keith pushed him back against the chair, scooting closer on his lap. He cupped his face, letting his thumb stroke Lance’s cheek. Lance didn’t even seem to realize that his hands had come up to hold Keith’s sides, and he didn’t flinch when Keith rested their foreheads together.

“Yes, you do,” Keith said softly. “What we feel… it’s fine. It’s _perfect_. It’s pointless to care about what other people think. We’re never even going to see any of these people again in a few years!”

“It’s not them,” Lance practically whispered. “It’s _me_.”

“You’re perfect,” Keith said stubbornly, hands fisted in Lance’s collar. Lance snorted, tilting his head back and letting it hang over the back of the chair.

“That’s just sappy,” he muttered. He sounded drained.

“You like it,” Keith whispered, sure he was right. He pressed his lips to the corner of Lance’s jaw, reveling in Lance’s intake of breath. He kissed down his neck, soft and careful, making sure not to leave any marks. “You like it, and you like me, and that’s _fine_.”

“I want it to be,” Lance admitted. His hands were shaking where they were resting on Keith’s waist.

“Then let it be,” Keith said, this time against Lance’s lip. Their eyes bore into each other’s. “I really, really like you, Lance. I want you to meet my friends. I don’t want to let go of your hand when other people are around.”

Lance clenched his eyes shut, and a tear traced down his cheek. He pulled Keith in close, hugging him hard. “Me too,” he said, his voice cracking.

“Okay,” Keith said. He was petting Lance’s hair, threading his fingers through it. It was soft. He must have as many hair products in this universe as he did in his own.

“Okay,” Lance repeated.

And between one blink and the next, Keith was gone.


	6. roommates au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have a good day today guys!!! warning for mild, pretty non-descriptive smut at the beginning of this chapter. ALSO, when lance says "delicioso" i'm not trying to say that's delicious in spanish lmao, that's just what my dad always says when he offers to make me a sandwhich, which i've always thought was cute
> 
> [jillian, what are you doing, it's 1am where you are, don't you have classes tomorrow??
> 
> no. i don't. they were CANCELLED. and now i'm a disaster. see what not having classes in the morning does to me????]

_“Come on, buddy, just wake up…” said a voice miles and miles away._

This time, something felt… different. The dregs of sleep drifted away from him, his body sunken heavily into a comfortable mattress, all the while…

Keith gasped, his eyes flying open, and then flicking downward. From in between his legs, Lance smirked at him. He was… his mouth was… and _Keith_  was…

“Oh my God,” Keith said breathlessly, and Lance pulled off of him with an obscene _pop_.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he said, smirking at Keith. “Get it? Sleepy head?”

“G-good morning,” Keith managed. He felt like he was shaking. Was he shaking?

Lance licked a strip from the bottom of Keith’s cock to the top, momentarily flicking his tongue over the tip. Keith jerked upward. Yeah, he was definitely shaking.

“I think I’m gonna make eggs for breakfast,” Lance continued casually, like this was _normal_. “After this,” he added, flicking his eyebrows upward.

Keith garbled something incoherent in response, making Lance snort inelegantly before going back down and taking Keith into his mouth again. Keith just stared at the ceiling, wide-eyed and panting as he tried to keep himself from bucking up into Lance’s mouth.

Lance was _good_  at this. It made sense, considering they’d likely been dating for a while. Likely done this a million times. Keith figured it made sense, really. He had no clue how long he was going to be skipping from reality to reality — it was really only a matter of time before one of these Lances had wanted to have sex with him, right?

Fuck. Did this mean Keith wasn’t a virgin anymore? He gasped when Lance did something new with his tongue, his body curling upward into the touch as he struggled to breathe. Oh fuck, nope, definitely not a virgin anymore, he thought as his body shook. He realized he’d come, probably sooner than usual considering the rather amused look in Lance’s eyes, and he collapsed back down against the pillows, face red in both embarrassment and exertion.

“Fuck,” Keith said as he laid there, panting, and finally managed to pick up his head. Lance looked entirely too satisfied with himself, his arms folded over Keith’s waist and his chin propped on his arms. “You said something about eggs?”

Lance laughed, his eyes squeezing shut as his body shook against Keith, making them both bounce against the bed. “You’re always hungry for somethin’, huh?” he teased.

“Stop,” Keith said, and to cover up his blush, he threw a pillow at Lance. Lance dodged it expertly, as if this weren’t out of character for Keith. So how was it that he was following in the footsteps of his counterparts so well? He knew they were the same person, essentially, but it was like no matter how he acted around Lance, it wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Then again, Keith felt like he wasn’t acting that different from usual in the first place. Other than the kissing and the cuddling. And the... dick sucking. God, scratch that thought. Erase it from existence.

Keith felt warm, though, and not because of the way his mind was wandering. Because at the base of his and Lance’s relationship in all these universes, it was the _same_. Like they were just as good of friends as they had ever been, except more. And wasn’t that just sad? That Keith was _that_  close, his behaviors _that_  similar, and still he was yet too far?

He tuned back in as Lance rolled off the bed, clad solely in pajama pants, and grabbed a book off the table. “I’ll make you breakfast in bed—” he began, before Keith interrupted.

“Isn’t the point of breakfast in bed surprising me when I wake up?”

“I already surprised you when you woke up,” Lance said, laughing at Keith’s expression. “So just _sit tight_  and read your romance novels while I cook you up a delicioso.” As he said this, he tossed the book he was holding onto Keith’s chest. Keith gripped it tightly, his face surely burning.

That... was a _secret_. One he definitely wouldn’t have told Lance had they started dating! It was just... humiliating. Growing up in foster homes, it’d been the one thing Keith has clung to. No matter where he went, the books in the local libraries remained the same. And no matter which book he picked up, the girl got the guy and they fell in love, happily ever after. _Always_. It was just comforting, knowing that there were constants in life. Knowing that somewhere, in some fictional universe, his favorite characters were falling in love. Again and again and again, should he choose to reread them.

Luckily, Lance had already turned and left the room, missing out on Keith’s mortification. He tried to imagine dating Lance — actually dating him, in his own universe — and telling him about the kinds of books he liked to read, the kinds of books he’d found on the ship and read in badly translated English. The only image he could procure after that was one of Lance with his head thrown back, his arms clutching his stomach, and his mouth stretched wide in laughter. Yeah, Lance would definitely find Keith’s appreciation for romance novels amusing.

Finally, Keith looked back at the book in his hands. He rolled his eyes, more at himself than anything — _Romeo and Juliet_. Could he be more cliché? …Not that he hadn’t read it several times in his own universe. He _could_  quote most of the damn play, after all.

He’d just opened it to a random page when he found himself frowning, realizing he had no idea what he was supposed to fix in this universe. Granted, it hadn’t always been immediately apparent. He’d had to sit through that entire boring meeting back on Altea, after all. But what could possibly be the problem between him and this Lance? It seemed like they were living together, or at least spending the nights at one of their apartments.

And then, think of the devil, Lance appeared. The eggs smelled delicious, their scent wafting across the room towards Keith, who sat up with a smile. “They smell great,” he said.

“They’d better,” Lance said. “I slaved over these babies.”

They each had a plate, and they ate them together while sitting on Keith’s — Lance’s? — bed. It was perfect. _Everything_  was perfect. They cuddled as they watched Netflix together and Lance played with Keith’s hair and Keith breathed in the scent of Lance’s laundry. Everything was wonderful.

“Pidge and Hunk wanna come over for lunch,” Lance said, sometime later.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “You mind?”

“Of course not.”

And so the plans for lunch were set in motion. They ordered Chinese and told their friends to come over whenever and cuddled until the knock on the door. Lance got out of bed, pulled on his pants, and went to answer it. Keith followed after him.

Everyone was already talking and joking around, and Hunk greeted Keith enthusiastically when he walked into the room, reaching his hand out for one of those weird bro-fist type things.

“Nice hair, Keith,” Pidge said, snorting when she saw him. Keith reached a hand up towards his head, realizing it was probably still a mess from… well, making out with Lance. Lance followed her gaze, and Keith got the feeling that he looked… panicked? At the very least, his eyes were wide, and he let out a derisive laugh.

“I would not wanna bet on the last time Mullet washed his hair.”

Keith recoiled, just the tiniest amount. It wasn’t all that different from their usual joking in Keith’s universe, but they’d just spent the entire morning cuddling half-naked in _this_  one. Plus, Lance’s tone had seemed to carry a sharper edge than it normally did.

“Fuck off,” Keith said naturally, playing the part, and Pidge snorted, obviously appeased.

The day went on like that, and Keith slowly pieced together what was happening. Lance sat across the table from him, barely talking to him except to make jibes. After lunch, Lance was careful not to sit next to Keith on the couch for the round of Mario Kart that they played. He felt like a completely different person, almost, and his demeanor didn’t change until their friends finally left, it nearly being dinner time.

Just like that, Lance seemed to flip a switch. He deflated, his mouth quirking up into a soft smile. “That was fun, huh?”

“Not really,” Keith said, unable to help it. This was obviously the problem of this universe. Lance and his apparent desire to hide their relationship from their friends.

Lance frowned. “You said you didn’t mind if they came over for lunch.”

“They weren’t the problem,” Keith said, making Lance’s eyes widen. “You just… insulted me the entire time. You barely even looked at me.”

“I was just trying to act _normal_ ,” Lance scoffed.

“That wasn’t acting normal, that was acting like an asshole.”

“What is your problem?!” Lance burst out.

“My _problem_  is that you’re too ashamed to be dating me!”

“That’s not true and you know it!” Lance cried. “Keith, I-I love you. You _know_  that. I just— with Hunk and Pidge…”

“You have your reasons,” Keith said, his voice low and his heart thundering. Part from all the yelling, and part from Lance saying he loved him. God, he was pathetic. This wasn’t even his Lance. This wasn’t even _his_  fight, and yet he was invested. “But I’m tired of hiding, Lance.”

“Keith…”

“Just think about it,” Keith said, his eyes downcast, before he slipped into the room he’d woken up in that morning. He really hoped it was his own room, but it was honestly hard to tell. Clothes and nick-knacks that could’ve belonged to either one of them littered the room.

Keith climbed into bed and closed his eyes, realizing he would still be here in the morning, considering his failure to fix the problem. All he’d succeeded in was yelling at Lance. Gratefully, he let sleep wash over him.

Except when he woke up, it wasn’t yet morning. It was still dark out, and considering Keith’s exhaustion, he figured it was the middle of the night. The bed had sunken beside him, though, and he could feel Lance shuffling into place behind him.

“Lance?” he said groggily.

“Shh,” Lance said, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. “Go back to sleep, babe. You were right.”

“I was?” Keith said sleepily.

“You always are,” Lance sighed. With that, Keith managed to fall back asleep. Deeply unconscious, he didn’t notice when he glitched away.


	7. supernatural au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you that've read my fics before, i think you can guess what kind of supernatural shenanigans are coming

_“...been three days…”_

Did someone say something? No, he was imagining things. He was cold. He was laying on something hard.

Keith let out a groan. It shouldn’t have been strange to be waking up, considering the last thing he remembered was falling asleep ( _in Lance’s arms_ , a distant part of him thought with a pang), but this didn’t feel the same as how he normally woke up. He’d never been one to dally in bed in the mornings. When he was little, he’d always been the first kid out of bed — something he was now sure had driven his foster parents up a wall — but he hadn’t been able to help it. Back then, he’d used to have nightmares a lot — (probably a result of being in new and unfamiliar places so often. New and unfamiliar places that would catch fire in his dreams, that his dad would disappear into without coming out of again…) — so being awake and out of bed in the mornings was how he preferred things.

That habit had stuck with him. In the Garrison, he’d woken up before his roommate every day, slipping out of the dorm to go for a morning run. After being kicked out of the Garrison and living in his shack, the habit had remained. And even out in space, where time didn’t truly exist, where their sleep schedules were entirely fabricated — still, it remained.

And this wasn’t like that. Because normally when he woke up, he was _awake_. There was rarely any lying around and trying to muster the strength to get up. No confusion or exhaustion weighing him down. What he felt now was closer to how he felt exiting the healing pods, like the sleep he’d been in hadn’t been a natural one.

His head was throbbing. And when Keith tried to move — pain. Even stranger still, the movement brought with it the sound of clankin. Was Keith… chained to the floor?

His eyes peeled open, and somehow, even that movement seemed to hurt. He ached throughout his whole body, and for the second time, he let himself groan.

“Down, boy,” said a familiar, though strangely biting, voice. Keith turned his head, spotting Lance — his arms crossed as he leaned casually against the wall, observing Keith blandly — in the corner of the room. It wasn’t even a room, not really. It looked more like a dungeon. And more importantly, there were _bars_  between him and Lance. And Keith was most certainly chained to the floor.

“What?” Keith croaked, and then gasped. His mouth was… He felt like he hadn’t had anything to drink in _years_. A whimper rose from his throat, unbidden, and Lance let out a scoff. He kicked something, and a small metal bowl slid across the room, through the bars, and stopped perfectly in front of Keith’s face without spilling. What the hell was going on?

Keith reached for the bowl, but neither of his hands could get that far, the chains attached to him having barely any give. Keith pulled harder, but he knew it was pointless. The only thing he could possible do was…

“Drink like a dog, dog,” Lance said scathingly. What was _wrong_  with this universe? Why didn’t Lance love him? And what did he mean, dog?

It was degrading, but Keith’s throat ached, and he didn’t think he could carry on a conversation without it. Shamefully, he lowered his face towards the bowl, slurping water into his mouth as best he could.

Whatever was going on here, he didn’t know how to fix it. The problems Keith had faced had all been relatively easy to understand, thus far. But what could possibly be easy about this? Had Lance kidnapped him? Or was this… was this some weird sort of kink thing? Because no offense, but Keith didn’t think something like this could turn him on in any universe.

Footsteps echoed across the floor, and Keith jerked against his bindings, twisting so he could see Lance. “Where are you going?” he asked, breathless and — he’ll admit it — a little panicked. He was completely at Lance’s mercy, wherever he was. And anyone else’s mercy too, if they showed up. What would happen if someone hurt him? What would happen if he _died_?

Lance laughed derisively. “Uh, out?”

“Don’t go,” Keith said. He was staring at Lance with wide, pleading eyes. He’d been dating Lance in so many realities already, right? The two of them always within each other’s orbit, always circling the very same group of friends. That couldn’t be a mistake, right? Lance… _this_  Lance… surely he must feel something for Keith?

“Sorry _Keith_ ,” Lance said, spitting out his name like it tasted rotten in his mouth. “But I’m not feeling especially forgiving towards you right now.”

And Keith didn’t know what to do. He had no clue what was going on, no clue why he was in so much _pain_ , and he just needed Lance. He needed his help.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lance laughed. He clutched the bars before him, bending over as his body shook with his amusement, the bars rattling with each heave of his chest. “Jesus Christ,” he said, grinning. His teeth seemed to glint strangely. They looked… sharper. “You’re a horrible liar.”

“I’m serious,” Keith said, desperate now. “I don’t know how to make you believe me, but…”

“Oh, I know,” Lance said scathingly. “How about you court me? How about you make me fall in _love_  with you? How about you give me the fucking best months of my life and then _drive a stake through my heart_!” He roared this last part, chest heaving, face twisted in fury. Keith gaped. That didn’t… that didn’t sound metaphorical.

“Lance,” he said, voice pleading. “Do you believe in alternate realities?”

Lance was completely still. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“ _Do you_?” he pressed.

Looking annoyed, Lance shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe?”

The pain in Keith’s body… it seemed to be building. It was unsettling. He found himself gripping the chains he was tied with. “They exist,” he continued. “And I — I’ve been traveling through them.”

Lance scoffed.

“I _know_  it doesn’t sound believable, but neither does the fact that you’re a vampire. That’s what you are, right?”

“As if you didn’t find that out while pretending to fall in love with me,” Lance muttered, bitter. Keith felt himself frown. That was just… horrible. Had he really done that?

“Where I come from, vampires don’t exist. I live on a spaceship. I help to pilot this weapon called Voltron and we’re fighting these aliens called the Galra who are trying to take over the universe.”

“What the fuck are you going on about?”

“I’m _saying_  that I’m not from this reality. And I don’t know what your Keith did to you, but I think you must be wrong. I think you need to hear him out.”

“Maybe you’re a better liar than I gave you credit for,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes.

“Lance, seriously,” Keith said. “I’m not lying to you, I—” he cut himself off as the pain reached a sudden peak inside of him, his entire body growing stiff and hot until — _crack_. Keith screamed, his insides filling with lava, and he writhed on the floor, sobbing against some unknown pain. “What’s happening to me?” he cried. He was shaking, and the pain seemed to level out, to remain at bay. Lance looked a little bit sick to his stomach.

“It’s the full moon,” he said. “And you’re a werewolf. Yet another secret you’ve been keeping from me. Who would’ve thought a werewolf would be a vampire hunter, huh?”

“A werewolf?” Keith muttered, shocked. God, that couldn’t — was that really true? Fuck, did that mean this wasn’t over? That pain, it was going to continue? He was shaking again. A mixture of shock and fear. “I have to get out of here,” he said, panicked.

“Yeah right,” Lance said, examining his nails now. “This cage is the only place that can keep you from going on a rampage. The bars are silver and everything. And I know this is where you usually lock yourself up. I’ve been investigating _you_  now, asshole.”

Another crack rent the air and Keith’s body did something unnatural. He was screaming, sweating and crying as he twisted in place, dust coating his hair and face. “Please,” he sobbed. “God, please, I don’t — I can’t do this.”

Lance looked wary. He was pressed against the bars, eyeing Keith with concern.

“Th-the other realities,” Keith said, speaking faster now. He felt like his words were tripping out of his mouth. He felt terrified. “In each of them, we’re in love. I pop in, and I fix some problem like, like…” he wracked his brain, which was becoming more scrambled as he felt the pain building up inside him again, “internalized homophobia, or a first kiss, or whatever. I fix the problem, and then I can _leave_.”

Lance was still staring at him like he was a lunatic. Keith was shaking violently, tears dripping down his face. “I need you to help me fix this problem,” he begged. “I need to get out of here, Lance. It _hurts_.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Lance murmured.

Keith shrugged. He couldn’t think that hard. “I’ve seen you as a mermaid,” he whispered breathlessly. “We’ve been roommates. We’ve been _wizards_. But I just want to go home,” he said desperately. His eyes were open, but he was seeing past Lance, and he suddenly realized how true this was. He was tired of opening his eyes to places that weren’t familiar to him. He was tired of dealing with problems that weren’t his own. Tired of kissing and touching Lances that weren’t his, knowing he’d never be able to kiss and touch the one he truly wanted. Because he loved these Lance’s, sure — they were versions of _his_  Lance, after all — but in the end, they would never, ever be quite the same. They wouldn’t be the one he wished he could spend his life with.

“Will you get to go home after this?” Lance asked.

Keith clenched his eyes shut. “God, I hope so,” he whispered. And then he groaned, and screamed, his body disobeying physics and logic as his bones _snapped_ , as they grinded together and melted inside of him, forming something new altogether. “Y-your Keith — I know he loves you,” he panted. “Because _I_  love you. And in every reality I’ve been in, we’ve been together. We’re meant to be, Lance.”

He didn’t mention the part where his own universe seemed to be the exception. In the beginning, he’d found it astounding that the queen of Exrus had managed to find a universe where they were dating. The _one_  universe, he’d thought at the time. Now, he was thinking his reality was the odd one out. The one that was wrong.

“But you tried to kill me,” Lance whispered. “I… I saw your stakes. Your hunting gear. You’re a vampire hunter.”

Keith shrugged. “Maybe I am,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m in love with you. I could never hurt you, Lance. Not in any universe.”

Lance’s eyes were glimmering. Shining with tears and what looked like hope. Keith was panting. He could feel it coming on again. Something was about to snap...

It was Lance. He wrenched the bars apart with his bare hands — _terrifyingly hot_ , Keith’s brain informed him — and came to sit beside Keith. He pulled Keith’s head onto his lap, brushing his cold fingers through his hair.

“I believe you,” he said. “It’s insane, but I believe you.”

Keith sobbed in relief. And pain.

“I’ll talk to Keith, when he comes back. I’ll see what he has to say.”

“I don’t know if he’ll remember any of this,” Keith explained. “I don’t know where they go when I’m here.”

“Then I’ll tell him,” Lance said, tucking Keith’s hair behind his ears. “Just close your eyes, love. You shouldn’t have to experience his pain.”

“Say that again,” Keith whispered, his eyes closed now. He couldn’t tell if the glitch was coming. He couldn’t feel anything past the fire in his bones.

“What? Love?” Lance said, sounding confused. And then he continued, on the bring of a realization, “You said we’re together in all the realities you’ve been through. But… what about your own? Tell me about your reality, Keith.”

“I love you,” Keith said. Sadly, it was also the answer to Lance’s question. _I love you. But you don’t love me._

“I love you too,” Lance said. He sounded confused. And sad. Keith felt the gentle press of lips against his forehead, and blissfully, the pain finally disappeared.


	8. internet friends au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL. I'M AN IDIOT. soooo _this_ chapter was supposed to come before the garrison chapter. for anyone who is reading this straight through in the Future or has yet to read today's update, this doesn't affect you!! for everyone else that woke up this morning and read the garrison update: it's not a big deal at all, this chapter was just supposed to come after the supernatural chapter for obvious reasons.
> 
> sooo, uhhh, happy double-update-bc-i-uploaded-the-wrong-chapter-earlier day!!! this means there won't be an update tomorrow now, sorry guys!

_“…could’ve caused this? …unexplainable…”_

Who _said_  that?

When Keith’s eyes opened, he was alone. He was sitting in a chair at a desk, and it was daytime. Not the full moon, then. Not a werewolf.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He almost felt bad, leaving the other Keith back there, making him experience that pain. But maybe it wasn’t that bad when you’d experienced it before. Maybe that other version of him had gotten used to it by now.

He almost couldn’t believe that he’d managed to convince Lance about the other realities. That it had _worked_  and he’d glitched out of there.

Speaking of, where was Lance? Keith seemed to be high school aged, and similarly, his room — or what he assumed was his room — was littered with what looked like high school things. A bookbag and stray textbooks on his bed. Pencils and papers on his desk, accompanied by a laptop. Keith had never actually owned a laptop before.

 _Blip!_  said the laptop.

Keith stared at it, alarmed.

_Blip! Blip!_

Keith pulled the laptop closer. There were moving pictures on the screen, and along the top of it, there were little icons — one with a steadily growing notification number above it. Keith clicked on it and a little chat window popped up. A conversation with some user named @lanceinurpants.

 **@lanceinurpants**  
okay so i’m dropping out of school  
i genuinely think this is a good idea???  
who even NEEDS a high school degree in california these days!

 **@redanomaly**  
not so sure that’s a good idea

 **@lanceinurpants**  
sure it is  
i’ll get a nice, steady job as a barista  
and then i’ll save up enough money to fly to texas and hide out in ur room forevermore

So they lived in different places, huh? Keith spared a moment to wonder who he was living with. If he had foster parents or maybe a foster Shiro or something.

 **@redanomaly**  
i guess i could make room for you on my bed

 **@lanceinurpants**  
that’s the spirit!

 **@redanomaly**  
what happened at school anyway?

 **@lanceinurpants**  
ugh nothing, i’m just sick of it  
can we rabb.it something together?

Luckily, Lance sent a link before he had to try to figure out what “rabb.it”ing was.

 **@lanceinurpants**  
just you, me, and a whoooole lot of disney movies  
if ur okay with that that is

 **@redanomaly**  
of course i’m okay with that

Keith was still curious about why Lance was sick of school, though. Maybe that was the problem he would have to fix?

Unexpectedly, binge-watching a bunch of Disney movies with Lance seemed to help the stress ease out of Keith. Because once again, he was in some random reality instead of his own. But this felt different. There didn’t seem to be as much pressure — Lance wanted company, sure, but he wanted internet company. Keith didn’t even have to be there, he just had to lay down in his bed and watch movies with Lance and occasionally scream about what was happening in the movie on the chat bar along the side.

They ended up falling asleep with _The Princess and The Frog_  still playing on both of their screens, the words _lmao that’s you_  the most recent in the chat history, having popped up when the prince first turned into a frog.

—

**1 New Message: pu$$y slayers unite**

**pidge**  
alright y’all i got a proposition

 **hunk**  
wait a minute  
who changed the gc name

 **pidge**  
unimportant

 **lance**  
omg amazing

 **keith**  
i hate it  
and all of you

 **pidge**  
omg rude

 **lance**  
GASP  
even ME babe?????  
uwu

 **keith**  
…  
yes

 **lance**  
we’re breaking up

 **hunk**  
:0

 **pidge**  
take it outside

 **lance**  
don’t you ever tell me to take anything anywhere ever again  
or i SWEAR TO GOD  
i will send nudes in the gc

 **pidge**  
you know what  
i think that just might be the one way to get keith to kill you before i do

 **lance**  
false  
keith would never kill me he loves me too much  
isn’t that right babe?

 **keith**  
mmmm  
i guess that couldn’t be considered particularly false

 **pidge**  
AJSLKFASDF

 **hunk**  
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

 **pidge**  
GJKDSFGKLASK

 **hunk**  
AAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAA!!!!!!!

 **pidge**  
ASDLKFJSADFLJSFKSDFLJSDFLKADSFJDSLF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **keith**  
STOP

 **pidge**  
YOU ADMITTED IT  
IN!!!!! THE GROUPCHAT!!!

 **lance**  
:)

 **keith**  
and?

 **pidge**  
YOU NEVER SAY IT IN PUBLIC  
ONLY TO LANCE  
I’VE SEEN IT IN SCREENSHOTS!!!!

 **lance**  
NO YOU HAVEN’T PIDGE SHUT UP  
SHE HASN’T KEITH  
SHE’S LYING

 **keith**  
this isn’t public  
so

 **pidge**  
keith  
why r u like this  
i h8 u

 **keith**  
:)

 **hunk**  
ladies and gentlemen  
let today be known as the day keith NOT ONLY said he loves lance in public  
but ALSO used an emoticon

—

It was after school, and Keith was back at his desk with his laptop open before him, a plate with a cut up apple resting near his elbow, courtesy of his foster mom. The sound of Skype’s ringtone was loud in his earbuds, as was the trilling sound it made when the call finally connected.

Even grainy-looking on a pixelated screen, Lance was beautiful.

“Keith!” he greeted, grinning from where he sat cross-legged on a floor, a white wall behind him. “You look cute.”

Keith’s eyes widened, and he looked down at the shirt he was wearing — some old t-shirt he’d found in his closet — and back up at Lance, blushing. “Really?”

Lance laughed. “Made ya blush,” he sang. “But yeah, really. You always look cute.”

Keith huffed out a breath so that it would not come out as a desperate sounding sigh instead. “So do you,” he agreed.

“God, I want to kiss you,” Lance said all of the sudden, leaning closer to his screen and staring intently at Keith, although his expression was faraway. “What do you think it’s gonna be like? I mean obviously I’ll hug you first, the first time we see each other, but a kiss’ll be immediately incoming.”

Keith chuckled. Unlike the Lance of this universe, he actually knew what kissing him felt like, not that he’d ever thought to entertain the idea that that might be the case. So he thought about it. Thought about how to describe it.

It was… totally and completely unexpected, each and every time it happened, and yet somehow familiar. It was something that Keith knew wasn’t really for _him_ , and yet always felt like it was. It was soft and sweet, Lance’s lips always smooth, his hands warm against Keith’s face or neck or waist. It was passionate, and it was loving, and it was tender.

Keith said: “I think it’ll be careful, at first.”

Lance cocked his head. He was smiling a little bit, like he hadn’t expected Keith to actually answer his question. Like he’d expected Keith to dodge it, perhaps too flustered to entertain it for long.

“I mean, it’ll be our first kiss,” Keith went on. “I bet we’ll both be panicking a little. Not to mention sweaty. I think just seeing you in the airport will make me start sweating, if the Texas heat hasn’t done so already.”

“Romantic,” Lance joked.

“Shut up,” Keith said, stifling a laugh with his knuckles. “So, yeah. It’ll be really slow and chaste, at least right there in the airport. And then I think I’ll kiss you again, after opening the car door for you. But then we’ll get back to my room, and we’ll put on some dumb movie or something, because I bet we’ll both feel a little awkward, but we’ll just… gravitate closer to each other. I’ll build up the courage to grab your hand, and a few minutes later, you’ll kiss my knuckles.

I’ll probably be panicking that my hand feels clammy, or that you can hear my heart pounding, or that I’m going to hyperventilate and die. But then I’ll look at you, and I’ll realize you’re already looking at me, and we’ll lean in at the same time. That’ll be our _real_  first kiss. You’ll cup my face, and I’ll end up leaning my hand on your chest, and we’ll both forget about the movie entirely.” Keith took a breath, realizing how long he’d been talking. _Babbling_. Christ, he’d sounded like Lance.

Lance, who was currently gaping at him. A gape which was steadily turning into a grin. “Wow,” he said. “You’ve thought about that a lot, haven’t you babe?”

Keith flushed violently. He really had. That… daydream… hadn’t been specific to this universe. Or any of the universes he’d been to. Maybe the airport part, sure, but the rest of it… It was just one of the many Keith had let run through his mind over the years, while lying in bed trying to fall asleep or while sitting across from Lance at the table, trying not to stare at his lips.

“Shut up,” he muttered. “I bet you have too.”

“Oh, totally, but I imagine it completely different.”

“Yeah? How do you imagine it?”

“First of all, you wouldn’t pick me up from the airport.”

Keith snorted. “Oh, so I’m an asshole?”

“Nah. You wouldn’t pick me up, ‘cause you wouldn’t even know I’m there. It’d be a complete surprise, on a totally random day. You wouldn’t suspect a thing.”

“Because you’re just that sneaky,” Keith teased, his tone flat.

“ _Yeah_ , I am,” Lance said, and then he grabbed his laptop, propping it up against his knees as he leaned back against the wall behind him. “I’d get in contact with your foster mom, somehow, and she’d help me plan the whole thing. You’d be coming home from school, thinking it’s just another boring day. You’d throw your bookbag on the counter and grab a snack from the pantry or whatever.”

“I keep my bookbag in my room.”

“ _Whatever_. Point it, you’d be none the wiser. You’d come up the stairs, probably thinking about all the homework you have to do, and how you should be doing it now but are gonna end up doing it at midnight, deciding to talk to me all afternoon instead.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then you’ll open your door, and I’ll just be sitting on your bed. You won’t even be able to think, in that moment. I’ll try to keep a really cool and casual pose, and be all like, ‘hey, what’s up?’ but in reality I’ll probably just be grinning. And then you’ll giggle, and run to the bed, and I’ll yank you down on top of me. It’ll be a hug and a kiss at the same time, and it’ll be _fireworks_. We’ll be laughing against each other’s lips and I’ll be like, ‘oh, wow, your mullet’s surprisingly soft,’ and you’ll tell me to shut up and I’ll say make me and we’ll kiss even more. Keith, it’ll be magical.”

Keith was grinning. This wasn’t his Lance. His Lance didn’t think the same things as this Lance. But this Lance _sounded_  like his Lance, _looked_  like him, and by God, hearing these words from his mouth was doing a whole lot of something to Keith’s heart.

“Now I’m going to be thinking about that every time I come home from school.”

Lance laughed. “ _Good_ ,” he enthused. “You should be thinking about me always.”

“I am,” Keith said, and Lance’s expression softened.

“Me too,” he sighed

And then Keith felt it. He fought off a frown, for some reason feeling not quite ready to go. Why did this always happen? Every time he appeared, he opened his eyes hoping he would be back where he belonged, and then when it was time to leave, he just wanted a few more minutes.

“Be right back!” he blurted. “I have to pee.”

“Good luck out there,” Lance said gravely, and Keith laughed, sliding off the bed and out of view. He stood in the corner of the room, shaking as his insides tried to rearrange themselves. How had he helped Lance this time, he wondered?

But then he heard footsteps out in the hall. Careful and slow, but not all that stealthy. Not so quiet. Not the kind of footsteps that Lance, a trained soldier, had developed. More like the kind of footsteps Lance, just a kid in high school, might have.

Surprise shot through Keith, as did realization. There’d been nothing recognizable in Lance’s background, which now that he thought about it, did seem a little odd. And Lance had practically told Keith his entire plan right then, right? He’d wanted it to be a surprise.

Except some things just weren’t for Keith to experience. Even though he felt giddy with excitement — stupid, considering he normally saw Lance every single day and wasn’t actually dating him, hadn’t actually been waiting however long to finally meet him — he knew this was one first he couldn’t take from his alternate self. And the universe, or maybe the queen of Exrus, knew that too. Because before Keith could even think to protest, he was gone.


	9. garrison au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy thursday my dudes!
> 
> edit: sooo i uploaded THIS chapter instead of the one i was supposed to update today alsjfksd. i just uploaded the prompt that was supposed to be uploaded today ("internet friends au") so go back to the chapter before this to read that if you haven't!!!! sorry for any confusion asdklfj

_For once, silence._

“Listen up, cadets, because I am _not_  going to repeat myself!” a voice roared. Keith’s eyes flew open, his blood rushing as his body tensed with fight or flight instincts.

 _Seriously?_  Why couldn’t he be anywhere but here?!

“Twenty bucks says McClain crashes the simulator again,” someone muttered behind Keith.

“No way,” another voice scoffed. “I’m not betting against that. We _all_  know he’s gonna crash.”

Keith glared at no one in particular. Actually, he was kind of glaring at Iverson, who was still droning on. Keith… recognized this day. Because this was an alternate reality, sure, but Keith had experienced this _exact day_  before. He vaguely remembered hearing those whispers behind him, and not being bothered at all. He hadn’t even known who they were talking about.

It was a Friday. Unlike most days where they flew the simulation, forced to do it with their assigned teams, on Fridays, you could choose your own. It became a kind of competition, of sorts, though Keith had always just stuck with the team assigned to him. He knew now that while Lance was here, he wasn’t actually Fighter Class. Not yet, anyway, since it would still be a few weeks before Keith was kicked out.

Anyone could participate in the simulations on Fridays, though, even cargo pilots. And now that Keith knew Lance, the thought made him really fond. And a little sad for him, honestly. He’d probably gone to all of these things — mandatory for fighter pilots, optional for anyone else — just hoping he’d make a good impression and be promoted. It was practically impossible, though, when you’d never had any of the proper classes. It was all just some big joke, basically. A way to give all the fighter class pilots a good laugh.

Except Keith wasn’t laughing. He was bristling with anger.

“Kogane,” Iverson suddenly called. “You’re up first. Choose your team.”

Keith stepped forward. His regular teammates were already moving through the crowd, but he ignored them. “Lance,” he said instead, his voice loud and ringing out over everyone’s heads. Lance jerked in place, suddenly realizing his name had been said, and he stared at Keith in disbelief.

“Uhh, what?” he said, his voice low and only audible because everyone else had fallen silent.

“Who?” said Iverson.

“Lance McClain.” Keith pointed, and Lance’s eyes seemed to widen. “I want him.”

Iverson seemed taken aback, but there were no rules against it, so he relented. “And, uh, your third?”

“Just him,” Keith said, shrugging his shoulders cockily. He couldn’t help it — he knew he was good. Even more so, now that he’d done nothing _but_  fly in his years in space.

Someone shoved Lance in the back, and he stumbled through the crowd, which started to open up for him. Before he knew it, he was at the front, standing before Keith. “Hi,” he said, sounding nervous.

“Hey,” Keith said. Then he jerked his head and walked into the simulator, Lance practically tripping after him. The second they were inside, he started babbling.

“Okay so I don’t know what’s going on or if this is some kind of joke you guys are pulling to embarrass me—”

“It’s not,” Keith said, settling into the seat on the right. Lance stared at the seat Keith had left open. Blinked. Squinted.

“Uhh…” he said.

“Aren’t you going to sit down?”

“That’s the pilot’s seat,” Lance said.

“Good find. You’re halfway there,” Keith joked, and Lance’s face reddened. He quickly came forward, dropping into the seat stiffly.

“I mean, you’re the fighter pilot here, shouldn’t you be flying?”

“Nah, I know you’re a good pilot,” Keith said. “Just don’t try any fancy tricks. Okay, Tailor?”

Lance gaped at him. Keith only knew the nickname because of stories Lance had told since their time in space, but he clearly seemed to be bursting a brain vessel right now, trying to comprehend the fact that Keith knew his self-appointed nickname.

“’Kay,” Lance said, sounding dazed. He was looking at Keith like he’d hung the moon.

And finally, Keith realized what was different about this universe. It seemed to be along the same timeline as his own, sure, but there was one key difference: here, Lance appeared to have a crush on him.

“You know what to do?” Keith prompted.

“I mean, usually I’m in _that_  seat, but I’ve seen it about a million times, and Pidge has explained all the mechanics to me—”

“You haven’t read any of the books?”

Lance made a funny face. “Reading’s not really my forte.”

“It’s the best way to learn.”

“Not when you have dyslexia,” Lance said. “By the time I’m done with a page, I’m too frustrated to remember any of what I’ve just read and my head hurts.”

Keith blinked. He’d never known that about Lance. How could he not have known that?

“Right,” he said quickly. “Well, let’s just get her in the air, okay?”

Lance operated the plane like he had a mind for it, which he did. He got them up in the air and flying the right formations, and when the distress signal came in, he handled that too. Keith only offered him the barest amount of guidance — all stuff that was definitely second nature to the Lance he knew now. The sharpshooter. The pilot. The seasoned soldier, caught in the midst of a war and having seen far more tragedy and bloodshed than anyone his age ought to have.

Keith felt a sudden, desperate pang. A want so hard, so deep, that it was nearly debilitating. At this point, he didn’t even care whether Lance loved him or not. That wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that he was _his_  Lance, and he was back home, fighting a war that Keith was probably missing out on as he dilly-dallied between realities.

He didn’t care whether Lance pulled him into his arms when he got back home. He didn’t care if Lance kissed him on the lips, if he whispered sweet nothings into his ear and ran his fingers down his spine. He just wanted him back. He wanted to go home.

Applause. Keith broke out of his spiraling thoughts to find Lance grinning at him, looking flushed and excited. Keith grinned back. This may not be his Lance, but he was pretty damn close. All of them were.

“I did it!” Lance cheered, jumping out of his chair and immediately breaking into a stupid dance, his feet tapping on the metal floor as he swung his arms around, producing this stupid half-beat, half-hum from the back of his throat. It was downright idiotic and embarrassing to look at, and Keith found it _adorable_. He snorted, getting to his feet as well, and stood there right in front of Lance as he continued to dance, smiling blindingly at Keith.

And, well, Keith couldn’t _not_  kiss him. He grabbed Lance’s elbows, making Lance jerk to a stop, probably thinking Keith was about to yell at him for being stupid, but then Keith pulled him close. He kissed him square on the mouth, feeling Lance stiffen against him in shock before his hands came forward, resting tentatively on Keith’s chest.

Finally, Keith pulled away.

“Um… yeah,” Lance said, making Keith snort. He looked completely dazed, and he’d definitely said that for no reason. Keith hadn’t even asked him a question.

“Keep flying with me and you’ll get promoted,” Keith promised him.

“You really think so?”

Keith nodded.

Lance bit his lip. “Are you gonna kiss me again?”

“So long as you don’t crash,” Keith said, and Lance shoved him out of the way.

“MR. IVERSON!” he yelled, having burst out of the simulator. “Can we go again?!”

By the time Lance had heckled Iverson long enough for him to grant them another go-round, Keith was gone.


	10. movie au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, you know, i was _planning_ on doing a spiderman au, but then my wonderful friend and horrible instigator haley said something along the lines of "heh, what about a venom au?"
> 
> so for those of you who haven't seen venom, maybe look up a picture real quick before reading. basically, venom is a symbiote that inhabits eddie's body. sooo uuuh. enjoy :)

_“Hey buddy. Thought I’d tell you a story tonight, if that’s okay?”_

“That’s okay,” Keith murmured, before jerking into awareness. He was alone. No one had said anything, and yet he was completely sure that he’d heard a voice… The harder Keith thought about it, the more distant the memory became, like waking up in the morning and trying to remember a fleeting dream. In moments, it was gone.

“Fuck,” Keith murmured to himself, before taking a look around the apartment he was in. It was small, but cozy. It appeared to be decorated in both his and Lance’s styles, similar to the apartment they’d shared together in that one universe.

He wondered when Lance would come in. Maybe he’d waltz through the front door and greet Keith with a kiss. Or maybe he didn’t even live here, but just visited a lot. So much that he’d taken over and helped Keith decorate. Maybe they weren’t even dating yet and both just helplessly dancing around their feelings. Enough that Keith had allowed Lance to buy him a couch that looked far too comfortable and expensive that he never would’ve bought for himself — he definitely knew he was gone enough for Lance to let him do that.

Amusement.

What? Keith looked down at himself. He’d certainly just felt… amused, fleetingly, but it was gone now. Back in its place were the right emotions, like panic and distress. The sooner he could get back to his own universe, the better.

For the first time, a new and terrifying thought ventured along. What if he got back to his own reality only to disappear right after again? Or, God, even worse, what if he never got to go back? What if the queen of Exrus had meant for him to wander through universes forever? Getting what he wanted and having it ripped away again and again and again…

Keith sat down on the floor, despite the perfectly good couch nearby, and wallowed in self-pity. Maybe this would be the rest of his life. Never having a proper home. Never having his proper Lance. Forced to wander between worlds, every experience fleeting, every touch temporary, nothing ever, truly his…

**Jesus Christ, I can’t let this go on any longer.**

Keith jerked upright, not even having realize his pitiful sitting on the floor session had transition into a pathetic laying on the floor session. “Who said that?!” he demanded.

**God dammit, it’s like the beginning all over again.**

Keith was panicking. His heart was pounding and his blood was thrumming and he was on his feet in an instant, spinning around wildly. The voice was like a roar in his ears, in his mind. Distinctly not his, and yet clearly not outward…

“H-hello?” Keith said tentatively. Because a very distant, very confused part of his mind hesitantly realized that that voice had maybe, kind of, almost sounded like…

**Ding ding ding!**

“Fuck!” Keith shouted, clamping his hands over his ears and spinning in place. “ _Lance_?”

**Aww, you do recognize me!**

“Are you _in_  my head?” Keith demanded.

The voice inside his head scoffed. **I think you mean _our_  head. And no, I’m not in it. I’m in all of you. I exist in your every nerve, your every cell.**

Keith was shaking. But then, very suddenly, he was not shaking. It was like his legs had taken on a mind of their own, deciding to hold him upright when he had been just about ready to give up and fall down.

 **Mind of their own,** Lance’s voice muttered. **It’s _my_  mind, idiot.**

Keith looked down. His legs… they were…

“Oh my God,” he said. They were _hideous_. Covered in this black, shiny, sickly…

**Insult me one more time and I’ll fling our body across the room.**

“Y-you can hear my thoughts?”

**Your thoughts are my thoughts, my thoughts are your thoughts. Well, mostly. I think we work better together when you’re actually you. We feel more like we did at the beginning, right now. Usually we’re very in sync.**

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Keith muttered.

**Well from your memories, apparently you’re trespassing in realities. Right now, you’re trespassing in mine.**

“I’m not trespassing!” Keith protested.

**I don’t know, Keith. Taking over bodies? Controlling their actions? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a symbiote like me!**

“I don’t even know what that means,” Keith groaned. “And I’m not doing this on purpose! This… This queen _cursed_  me. I just want to go home.”

**Ahh, I’m sure you’ll get there. Don’t worry about it.**

“You’re just saying that because you witnessed me on the verge of a panic attack.”

**Plus I know exactly what you need to hear, considering I’m in your brain and all. How many times have you found a Lance that can hear your thoughts?**

Keith groaned, and Lance sighed. **I really do think you’ll get home. I don’t think anyone’s evil enough to leave you wandering for the rest of time. Plus, even if you’re not _my_  Keith, I still care about you. I’d love any Keith.**

Keith felt himself grow warm, at that. **Feeling better?** Lance teased.

“A bit,” Keith admitted.

 **Good,** said Lance, except this time “Lance” was a protrusion from his chest, morphing straight from his body and extending out in front of him, just a floating head, sleek and accompanied with milky white eyes, razor sharp teeth, and a lolling tongue. **If you scream, I’ll kill you.**

“Really?” Keith squeaked. Lance could totally kill him. He had all those teeth.

Rather than rolling his eyes, Lance rolled his entire head. **Obviously not,** he said. **We’re connected. And even if we weren’t, I’m in love with you.**

“Oh, good,” Keith said. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

He could feel Lance’s amusement. **Go ahead.**

“Could I — could _Keith_ … feel anything, before I got here?”

**Oh, definitely. He didn’t say anything about it, of course, ‘cause you’re stubborn like that.**

Keith pursed his lips.

**But yeah. I felt it too, to an extent. We felt dizzy, and _weird_. He said my name, and then he was gone. And you were here, panicking about existentialism and all that.**

“That wasn’t what I was panicking about.”

**Yeah, yeah, whatever.**

“So… Do you think he’s still here? Like, in the distant reaches of my mind, or something?”

 **Our mind,** Lance corrected him patiently. **And I don’t know. I know our mind far better than you ever did, but even I can’t examine the farthest reaches of it. I’ll ask you when you get back.**

“I want to know what happens to them, when I’m here,” Keith sighed, sitting down on the floor. “I’ve never had anyone to talk about it with like this before.” There’d been the vampire Lance, but that had been more of a begging and pleading situation. He hadn’t had time to discuss the intricacies of this arrangement with him.

 **You’re lonely,** Lance concluded. **So many versions of your love you get to see, and still you’re not with him.**

That sent a pang through Keith’s heart.

 **Oh,** Lance said, then. He must’ve realized. **Don’t give up hope, Keith. I told you I would love you in any universe, didn’t I?**

“I think it’s the other way around,” Keith sighed. “The queen… she’s punishing me. She’s showing me all of this so that I can truly _see_  what I’ll never have. And that’s not even the worst part! What if I’m ruining the lives of all my alternate selves with every universe I leave?!”

**You may think yourself different from all those versions of yourself you’ve replaced, but I can assure you you’re not. You acted the very same as my Keith did when he first encountered me. I think whatever you do is probably close to what those Keith’s would do, too. And though that queen is punishing you, I can’t imagine she’d want to punish every version of you. I bet if you tried to do anything totally drastic, she’d yank you away and place you somewhere else.**

“You really think so?” Keith said, getting an inkling of an idea. What could he do? What could be so life-ruining that the queen would feel forced to displace him elsewhere? Assuming she was actually regularly monitoring him, anyway. Maybe she just heard some distant ‘ding!’ every time Keith fixed whatever problem he was supposed to, and then she spun some fun alternate reality wheel and sent him away.

 **Don’t get any ideas,** Lance warned him. **Especially not in my universe. I’m not 100% sure.**

“I guess you’re right,” Keith sighed. Lance took over his arm, then, turning the entire thing black and sticking his face right on the end.

 **I’m always right,** Lance said, grinning. Then again, it kind of looked like that was all his mouth _could_  do. And then Lance snorted. Keith forgot he could hear his thoughts. **That most certainly isn’t all that my mouth can do,** he said, sounding amused.

Keith laughed, scooting away a bit, but Lance was attached to him, obviously, so he came with. “Right,” he said awkwardly.

And then, both peculiarly and very thankfully, he felt that familiar feeling rising within him.

Lance pouted. **I swear I’m good with my teeth,** he muttered.

“I don’t control this!” Keith said, leaning on his elbow and tilting his head back as the glitch built.

Lance rose into his vision. **You’re gonna be all right, Keith,** he said. **You’ll see.**

“I hope so,” Keith muttered. He gasped as his nerves rearranged themselves and was yanked away. For just a moment, Lance was alone in Keith’s body. _Their_  body.

And then he wasn’t so alone anymore.

“What, you wanted to suck his dick?!” Keith — _Lance’s_  Keith — demanded.

****He was you!** **

“ _I_ _'m_ me!”

 ** **I wouldn’t have really done it,** **Lance pouted **. **Can’t we just celebrate the fact that you’re back? And apparently witnessed all of that?****

“It didn’t feel like I was witnessing it,” Keith said. “It felt like I was _doing_  it, except it all made sense to me. I’d probably still think that had been me if you guys hadn’t actually talked about it all.”

********Weird.** ** ** **

Keith shrugged. “Whatever. Hope he gets back home, though. I can’t imagine just wandering through realities…”

 ********So don’t,** ******Lance said, and he was giving Keith that lecherous look again, his long tongue hanging out of his mouth. Keith rolled his eyes.

“You’re a menace.”


	11. pirate au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was supposed to be a youtubers au, but i'm sorry, that just didn't sound very fun to me alkdjasf. soooo, pirates!!!
> 
> (p.s. there's a lil smut at the end! feel free to skip it if that's not your thing)

_“Shit, did I fall asleep…?”_

Keith’s head whipped around, searching for words he was sure he had heard, but no one was there. And then his eyes widened and he was clutching the railing before him with an iron grip, staring out in horror at the horizon. The ceaseless, surrounding, _churning_  horizon.

He never would’ve guessed that he was afraid of the ocean, especially since he’d already experienced it with that mermaid Lance, but now, surrounded on all sides by it with absolutely no land in sight, he discovered his newfound fear _very_  easily. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to escape. If this stupid ship decided to capsize then he’d be _stuck_  out here, left to tread water until his legs gave out, unless the force of the sinking ship brought him down with it first. Honestly, that might be the kinder fate.

Seriously, in _what_  universe would he be found on a _ship?_

“Ah, there you are!” came a voice from behind him. Lance’s voice. Who else would it have been? Keith spun around.

And okay, at least _this_  made sense. Because the universe where he could be found on a ship, was also the universe where he was a pirate.

Lance’s left leg was wooden, and he had an eyepatch strapped over his face, except it was flipped up, revealing his completely unharmed eye underneath. His clothes were raggedy and worn and he had a sword hanging from his hip. And his hair, normally perfectly disheveled, was just actually disheveled. It was a little longer than usual and a wild mess of curls, probably thanks to the spray of the seawater he likely often came in contact with.

“You were looking for me?” Keith said, letting himself smirk. He expected it not to feel genuine, especially after the heart to heart he’d shared with that mind-reading, body-inhabiting Lance from the reality before. He would’ve expected all of this to start feeling routine by now, boring and monotonous. But to his surprise, each and every one of these universes was different, each with their own, unique problems that he for some reason had to fix. And as much as he was growing tired of this mission, a complete surprise and forced upon him, he was still taking it seriously. Because he cared about Lance, and he cared about the fact that in each of these universes, Lance cared about him. He didn’t want to ruin their relationship. Didn’t want to do something disastrous in the hopes that the queen of Exrus would yank him away and do damage control.

“I’m always looking for you,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. He stepped in closer, tucking his fingers into the waistband of Keith’s pants in order to pull him closer with the leverage. Keith stumbled forward, hands raising to stop him from colliding with Lance completely. That left his fingers splayed over Lance’s bare chest. Lance’s vest was rather useless, considering he wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath it.

“What do you want?” Keith murmured, actually hoping Lance would answer seriously. He wished he could at least have some sort of handguide for this whole experience. Maybe a quick summary of what universe he was about to enter just before he entered it. Instead, he was forced to take everything in stride.

“What do you think I want?” Lance returned, and it really wasn’t that hard to guess, especially when Lance was looking at him like that, his eyes lidded, his lips parted. The moon was out, illuminating the deck in soft lighting, and the waves around them glinted and glimmered with every movement. It was quiet except for the ocean, so assuming they had anyone else in their crew, they were probably asleep.

Keith couldn’t resist the pull. Lance was _right there_ , and he could feel his breath on his lips, could feel his fingers inching along his waist. Finally, their lips connected, and Lance’s tongue snuck into his mouth, deep and alluring, making Keith press up into him, standing on his tiptoes as Lance began to pull away—

And shoved him back against the railing, a dagger at his throat.

Keith blinked. He hadn’t seen that dagger on Lance’s person. But then, the scabbard around his own waist did feel lighter…

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

Lance snorted, amused. His eyes glinted with a challenge in the moonlight, his teeth flashing white for just a moment as he waggled his eyebrows.

And then it was on.

Keith leaned back against the railing, forgetting his fear about falling overboard, and kicked out at Lance. As Lance stumbled back a step, Keith swatted at Lance’s wrist, making him drop Keith’s blade. With a shout, they were both stumbling into action, reaching for respective weapons that met with a clash in the air between them, their feet following a familiar dance as they swung and slashed and parried and blocked.

Keith hadn’t realized how much he’d _missed_  this. Just getting to spar with Lance. Getting to swing his sword — completely different, made of metal and what looked like bone instead of Altean technology — but it was good enough. And _Lance_  was good enough, despite the fact that he wasn’t trained like a soldier.

No, he was trained like a pirate. He fought much dirtier than Keith’s Lance, throwing things to trip him and using the deck and the rolling waves to his advantage, jumping from barrels and yanking on ropes and using everything in his arsenal to take Keith down. Still, Keith never went down without a fight, so he fought with everything he had, working up a sweat and growling as he pressed his sword against Lance’s one moment, only to burst into laughter at the face Lance made at him the next.

And then, with an impressive use of pretending to trip on his wooden leg, making Keith hesitate for a second, Lance disarmed him. He leaped at Keith and forced him to the deck and pressed his sword against his neck, grinning as he panted. “Aha!” he cheered, wiggling proudly from his perch on top of Keith. “This is the end of your sorry life, Keith!” he said dramatically, sword still at Keith’s throat.

“Unlikely,” Keith said, following a familiar dialogue. How strange, how similar this encounter was to the last one he’d had with Lance. _His_  Lance — the one he’d left behind on the training deck.

Still, Lance squawked indignantly. “What do you _mean_  ‘unlikely’?! I’ve got my sword to your throat! You’re dead, Mullet!”

And just to prove him wrong, Keith’s hand shot out and knocked Lance’s arm away. This time, he managed to keep ahold of his weapon, but Keith still flipped them and rolled on top of him, keeping his arm and sword pressed to the deck as he leaned low over him.

“I hate you,” Lance groaned.

“You love me,” Keith countered, and Lance rolled his eyes. And then, very deliberately, he rolled his hips.

Keith’s breath caught in his throat. He pinned Lance to the deck harder, bringing both his hands above his head as he pressed them down, convinced this was another one of his tricks. As if to prove to him it wasn’t, Lance tossed his sword aside, still staring up at Keith with a smirk as he rolled his hips up into his, looking entirely too satisfied for his own good.

“Fuck,” Keith panted, moving back against Lance, now. God, this was all probably some giant insult to his Lance. An invasion of his privacy, for sure. Oh hell, Keith really hoped the queen couldn’t see him right now. Not that she wouldn’t have seen this kind of thing before, Keith remembered with dread…

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, any feelings of ill will were quickly eradicated from his mind. Lance was an expert with just his hips alone, rolling his body up and against Keith’s so deliberately, so determinedly, that he was left shaking above him, his fingers digging into Lance’s wrists for any type of purchase, probably leaving bruises.

“Look like you’re enjoying yourself, _guapo_ ,” Lance murmured. He sounded perfectly in control, but his breathing was a little shaky, at least. He wasn’t completely unaffected by this, then.

“Yeah,” Keith panted. He couldn’t help but tell the truth, what with how good he felt. He was close, he realized with embarrassment, and he pressed his face into Lance’s shoulder in a poor attempt to hide from him, the person he was literally pleasuring himself on. His hips sped up, grinding down on Lance quickly, desperately, as little huffs of air escaped him.

And then, finally, he came, clutching Lance and shaking desperately against his chest, gasping for breath. Lance was still underneath him, too, but he couldn’t tell if he’d come.

“I win,” Lance suddenly announced.

“What?” Keith managed, picking his head up.

“You came first,” Lance declared. “ _And_  in your pants. That’s double points.”

Keith went red. “That’s not — we weren’t… We were sparring!” he protested.

“Or so you thought,” Lance said with an evil grin. And then his hands escaped from Keith’s grasp, having turned loose and pliant in his surprise, and he patted Keith’s butt. “C’mon, up,” he said. “Let’s go back to our room so you can…” he waggled his eyebrows. “ _Shiver me timbers_.”

Keith stared at him blankly. “That was horrible.”

“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first.”

“You know, I’m really not,” Keith said.

Lance got to his feet, rolling Keith off him, but he pulled him up as well. “You really helped get my mind off things,” he said softly. Keith let himself match Lance’s smile, ignoring the part of him screaming that he hadn’t helped at all, that he hadn’t even known Lance had been upset.

“Come on,” he said instead, rolling his eyes. He could already feel the glitch building up within him. “Someone needs to get his timbers shivered.”

Lance laughed, his eyes lighting up in pure joy, and he pulled Keith after him.


	12. historical au

_"How’s he doing?”_

_“Perfectly fine. All his vitals are in great shape. The only thing wrong with him is that he’s still asleep.”_

Suddenly, Keith wasn’t being pulled into a bedroom by Lance anymore. He stumbled to a stop, standing still in a bustling… room...? People swarmed all around him, running left and right and scurrying around like ants, though each and every one of them clearly with a purpose. Two men ran past Keith carrying a table, both wearing full faces of makeup and outlandish, ancient looking outfits. One of them was very clearly dressed to look like a woman.

Out of nowhere, a man came up and gripped Keith’s shoulders, his eyes wide and frantic. “Pray tell, _what_  are you doing?” he demanded. He wasn’t wearing any makeup, but his clothes looked just as old. He was holding a roll of parchment in his hand, which crumpled against Keith’s shoulder where he gripped him.

“Um,” Keith said dumbly.

“You’re on in _two minutes_ ,” the man hissed. “Get going!” And then he shoved Keith, who stumbled past more people, either in costumes and makeup or wearing all black, like stagehands.

Oh no.

Oh _God_.

They _were_  stagehands! Keith was on a stage, albeit the back of one, but still! That man — he must’ve been the director. Wait, fuck, Keith was supposed to go on? In _two minutes?!_

It must’ve been between scenes, seeing as everyone was running around desperately trying to set up for the next one. But what part was Keith playing? What _play_? Fuck, he wasn’t going to know any of the lines! He was going to make an embarrassment of himself! Where was Lance?!

“Let’s go!” someone suddenly hissed, and a man grabbed Keith’s arm, pulling him out from behind a curtain, out onto the stage before abandoning him, going to stand where he was supposed to be. The stage was already set, a few tables pushed towards the back, other men — dressed as both men and women — already on the stage. Keith couldn’t help but look out at the crowd.

There were… so many of them…

Even more horrifyingly, Keith _recognized where he was_. It was the Globe Theatre, built specifically for Shakespeare’s plays. Audience members surrounded the stage, up on the different levels in the actual seats and standing before the stage itself, some of them even leaning against it, their arms folded over the edge of it. Those would be the poorest of the audience members, then. They’d have paid only a penny.

And just like that, some of Keith’s fear disappeared. This was _Shakespeare’s_  theatre. Meaning this was Shakespeare’s play! But still, which one? And why was Keith here? Was Lance in the audience?

People were talking, Keith realized. Actors. He realized why there were men playing women. Back in Shakespeare’s time, it was illegal for women to act, so men would play their parts. Younger men, or men that could pass as women with enough makeup or maybe the right body type, would play their parts.

People dressed as servants were talking, and Keith tuned in, mind scrambling for the words, for which play they came from.

“You are looked for and called for, asked for and sought for, in the great chamber,” one of them said. Keith blinked, and then his eyes widened.

“We cannot be here and there too,” said the second servant. “Cheerly, boys; be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all.”

Holy _shit_. This was Romeo and Juliet!

As the servants left the stage, other actors entered. There came Capulet, and beside him…

 _Lance_ , Keith thought desperately. Although the more accurate thought would’ve been Juliet. There were other actors with them, too, but Keith’s eyes were locked onto Lance, taking him in. Of course he was here too. Of course he wasn’t in the audience.

He was wearing a beautiful dress, an expensive looking wig affixed to his head, and he was wearing as much makeup as the rest of them. He seemed completely in his element, an actor on a stage. An actor with an audience.

Capulet was talking, but Keith could barely hear him.

“’Tis more, ‘tis more, his son is elder, sir,” said someone to Capulet. One of the servants was making his way towards Keith, a tray held aloft as he moved swiftly through the other actors, dancing to music that Keith hadn’t realized had begun to play. “His son is thirty,” the actor continued. Capulet’s cousin?

Capulet answered him. “Will you tell me that? His son was but a ward two years ago,” he laughed.

The servant was standing right beside Keith. Where was Romeo? It was his line, Keith knew. He’d read this stupid play a million times, and not just in his own universe, he thought with a twinge of embarrassment. He remembered Lance throwing the book at him before leaving the room, off to the kitchen to make them both breakfast.

And the servant was staring at Keith with wide eyes. The stage had gone quiet, everyone waiting for the next line. _Romeo’s_  line.

With a jolt of shock, Keith put two and two together. _No way_ , he thought to himself. But it was obvious by his outfit. Obvious by the way everyone was staring at him, subtly panicking.

 _I can’t act,_  Keith thought with a second of horror. But then again, he’d been acting a whole lot, recently. Pretending all the shit he was going through in all these realities was completely normal.

And so, trying to hide how horribly he was panicking, Keith acted.

He grabbed the servant’s arm. “Which lady is that, which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” Keith asked, jerking his head towards Lance, who was dancing with some other actor, looking relieved. He shared a brief, reassuring look with Keith.

“I know not, sir,” said the servant. And Keith fell into the roll. He said the lines, long ago memorized, and played the part. He enthused over Lance and his beauty, each word from a script but no less true.

While other actors ranted about him — their enemy, a Montague, at their dance — he made his way across the stage, drifting closer and closer to Lance. To Juliet. Finally, he was before him. Center stage. Keith took his hand.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” Keith said to Lance, reverent. Translation: your hands are holy, mine are not, so _please_  let me kiss you.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,” Lance said, smiling softly. It was the first time Keith had heard him speak. “Which mannerly devotion shows this, for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hand do touch. And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Translation: nah, your hands are cool. And you’re polite. It’s kind of like our hands are kissing.

“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?” _Yeah, okay, but don’t pilgrims have lips?_

“Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”

“O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”

Lance smirked. Keith was begging for his kiss, and Lance was just keeping it at bay. “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake,” he said teasingly.

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.” Keith leaned in, and he pulled Lance close, and they kissed. He felt Lance exhale against his lips, felt him sink into the embrace, soften against his body. Keith held him tight. And then he pulled away, though he was still close. He spoke against Lance’s lips. “Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”

Lance pulled away even more. He looked amused as he asked, “then have my lips the sin that they have took?”

Keith laughed and shook his head. ”Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” And so he pulled him back in, and kissed him again.

—

In Keith’s opinion, the play went swimmingly. There were only a few mishaps on his part, and between scenes he’d looked at his cue lines, making sure he remembered them all well enough.

Now, the audience was long gone as was a good chunk of the cast. Keith had changed out of his costume and back into his street clothes, which he’d found with pure luck, honestly, and now he was looking for Lance. There were a few dressing rooms, most of them full of people changing, calling over the heads of other’s and jumping into their pants.

When Keith found Lance, he was dressed normally again (or as normally as one could look in the sixteenth century), and he was standing before a mirror.

“Hey,” Keith said, closing the door behind him. This dressing room was empty except for Lance.

“Hey,” Lance said, meeting his eyes in the mirror. Keith came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, Lance sighing as he leaned back against him. “We shouldn’t,” Lance said forlornly.

Keith ignored him, hugging him harder. Lance turned his head, nosing against Keith’s jaw. “We’d be fired if they saw us.”

“We’re Romeo and Juliet,” Keith countered. “We’re supposed to be close.”

Lance laughed. There was no humor behind it. “Only when I’m a girl,” he said.

“We’re meant to be together.” Keith whispered it in his ear. After all the universes he’d been through, it was hard not to think it was true. For most realities, anyway.

“We’d have to be a secret forever,” Lance said.

“Then we’ll pretend to be roommates,” Keith said. “Or we’ll find a nice pair of girls who are as in love as we are and marry them. It’ll be a great big secret.”

Lance laughed, his body shaking against Keith’s. “You’d do that?”

“For you?” Keith said, his hand having come up to caress Lance’s cheek. “I’d do anything.”

“The only times we could kiss in public would be onstage.”

“So we’ll give them all a show,” Keith growled, and Lance finally spun in his arms, sighing as he pressed a kiss to his lips.

“You better not change your mind about this,” he said, pouting at Keith.

“I could never,” Keith told him, sure and true. He pressed another kiss to Lance’s lips, knowing their time grew short. He had to admit that it’d been kind of fun, being Romeo. Performing with Lance. He’d happily live his entire life in secret if he had to, so long as his secret was Lance.


	13. role revesal au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning everyone!!! i'm off to my exam gahhh

_“I thought of something. I know it was a while ago, but remember that queen? Didn’t she threaten Keith or something?”_

Yes!

When Keith opened his eyes, his heart leapt into his throat. Because for just a second, he thought he was back home. He’d heard Lance speaking, after all.

And, eyes darting around, he realized he _was_  in a lion. But he wasn’t in the right lion.

“Ugh, taking down evil space aliens always makes me so _hungry_ ,” Hunk’s voice crackled over the comms. It made Keith’s heart swell desperately, his entire body aching for home. This was _nearly_  it — did that mean he was getting closer?

“Technically, we’re all space aliens,” Pidge pointed out.

“Stop, no thinking,” Hunk bemoaned. “I’m too hungry to think.”

“We’ll be back soon,” came Shiro’s voice, sounding amused.

It was all so similar to his own reality, so close he could almost taste it, but it was glaringly wrong. Because the lights shining throughout his lion’s cockpit were _blue_. And when he looked down at his armor, that was blue too.

And then there was Blue in his mind. She seemed hesitant, and curious. Kind of wary. She knew Keith didn’t belong here. Wasn’t her true paladin.

 _Don’t tell anyone,_  he thought at her. She rumbled in his mind, still curious, but no longer wary. Appeased.

“Is it just me, or is it too quiet in here?” Hunk piped up suddenly.

“Yeah, Keith, what’s wrong?” Pidge added.

“What?” said Keith, surprised to have been addressed.

“Normally you’re talking up a storm by now!” said Hunk. “You know, all, ‘did you see what I did to that one ship? I was all WHAM! BAM! KA-POOOWW!’” Hunk laughed heartily. Keith gaped in the privacy of his own lion.

“Uhhh…” he said. Because _what_? That wasn’t Keith they were describing! That was Lance! Or… in most universes, that was Lance. This was fucking stupid. Keith closed his eyes. Took in a breath. He knew Lance. He _loved_  him. And by that logic… well, he could probably impersonate him, couldn’t he? “You know, I was just waiting for someone else to point out my awesomeness for once, so thank you, Hunk,” he said cockily. His eyes darted around the cockpit in a panic, wondering if he’d acted Lance enough. “Plus, it was more like BA-BAM, KACHOW!”

Hunk and Pidge roared with laughter, and the yellow lion came over to bump into Keith’s playfully.

Lance’s voice suddenly crackled to life over the comms, and his face appeared on a screen before Keith. He’d taken off his helmet, and he was scowling. Even more astonishing than the scowl, however, was the fact that his hair was _Keith lengthed_. Keith couldn’t help reaching a hand up towards his own hair, fingers fumbling through open air at the back of his neck. “That _’kachow’_  almost cost us our mission,” Lance said dryly. “We would’ve defeated them faster if we’d just formed Voltron when Shiro told us to. Instead you took on that sector all on your own.”

“They did kind of have him pinned, Lance,” Hunk hedged.

“I would’ve flown around them.”

“Okay, well, you have the red lion. She’s faster.”

Keith watched as Lance huffed. He felt… shamed. And annoyed. And angry. Holy hell, did he make Lance feel like this? Granted, the way Lance was talking to him reminded him of the way he’d used to talk to Lance in the beginning of all this, entire years ago now, but it still hurt. He felt horrible for ever having said shit like that to Lance.

“Settle down, guys,” said Shiro’s voice, placating as usual. “We defeated them, and that’s what matters. Let’s go debrief with Allura.”

Keith nearly collided with Lance, having instinctively steered towards Red’s hanger, earning himself a, “Watch it!” from the blue-turned-red paladin. Feeling Blue’s amusement rumble through his mind, and maybe an underlying layer of understanding as to what exactly had happened to her paladin, she guided him back to where he was supposed to be.

Even though this universe was so obviously wrong in so many ways — or, okay, in two distinct ways — he still felt stupidly nostalgic walking down Blue’s ramp and stepping out into the castle. He was _home_.

The castle-ship… it was the first place he’d ever thought to call home, at least since his father had died in a house fire when he was nine. No foster home had come even close to being a home for him, and the Garrison was just the Garrison. It was a school, and during the holidays, everyone had gone to their homes. And Keith had gone to the shack. And it was really just that — a shack. Because homes had families. Homes had meaning and provided comfort. That’s what the castle was.

Almost immediately, he’d felt at home here, which was honestly ridiculous. The place he’d felt most at home wasn’t even on _Earth_. But he hadn’t been able to deny it, nor the fact that he had quickly become attached to the people within it, no matter what façade he’d decided to put up in front of them. At the heart of it all, he loved the castle and he loved his friends, and together, they were a family. They had a home.

So, yeah. Sure. Keith could ignore the weirdness of his and Lance’s personalities in this universe. He could ignore all the questions and uncertainty that came from it. He could ignore everything that didn’t make sense, because while he was here, he wanted to appreciate being back. He had no idea when he would see these halls, these lions, these _versions_  of themselves again.

Besides, whatever problem he was supposed to solve would make itself known sooner or later.

Keith emerged in the bridge, a little shocked when he exited from a different door than usual, and came to stand with the rest of the team, the last one to arrive. Allura was standing where she usually stood, on the slightly raised platform in the middle of the bridge, and Coran stood by her shoulder. Keith’s felt his eyes soften at the sight of him. It’d been too long since he’d seen the man.

“Good work, team!” Coran said cheerfully, his mustache bouncing with his enthusiasm. Keith found himself grinning. “Another successful day of crushing the Galra regime underfoot! I commend you!”

A chorus of, “Thanks, Coran,” echoed across the bridge, and then Allura cleared her throat.

“Yes, good work, team,” she said with a nod. “Don’t let this victory get to your heads, however. The Galra managed to send out a distress beacon before their ship was destroyed, so reinforcements could be on the lookout for us. We must remain alert.” A beat of silence. “However, you’re all free to relax, for now.”

Keith whooped. He just thought it was something Lance would do. Luckily, Hunk laughed, and Allura rolled her eyes fondly, so he figured it was pretty in character.

What _wasn’t_  in character was Allura stepping forward and intertwining her arm with his. “Still up for watching a movie?” she said, looking up at him expectantly. It took everything in Keith not to stare at her with his mouth gaping wide. His brain stumbled to a stop, his entire body translating into something that said, ‘cannot compute.’

“Uhh,” he said. He caught sight of Lance, who was glaring at him from the corner of the room while pretending not to be glaring at him. Keith… had never seen him look at him like that before. He’d seen him glare at _enemies_ , sure, but never at him. He wondered, if their roles were reversed, if other things were reversed too. If perhaps Lance was the one to have a crush on him. An apparently unrequited one, considering the fact that Keith seemed to be dating _Allura_.

He tore his gaze away from Lance to instead look at his… girlfriend. “Of course,” he said, managing a smile, and Allura pulled him out of the room, Keith internally panicking. Oh God, oh fuck. What if she wanted to kiss him? He couldn’t kiss her! It would feel like cheating on all the Lances in all the universes he’d been to — you know, the ones he wasn’t really dating.

Okay, maybe that was a poor excuse. It would feel dishonest, though. Disloyal. He was in love with Lance — he didn’t want to kiss anyone else. Hell, he especially didn’t want to kiss a girl.

Keith hadn’t even realized where they’d gone, so caught up in his own thoughts of pure panic as they’d walked through the halls. Now they were standing in the lounge, however, the holoscreen activated and Allura standing before it, scrolling through all the Altean movies.

“I’m kind of feeling a horror movie,” Allura said aloud, and Keith made some grunt of agreement in the back of his throat. Maybe he could pretend to be sick. Maybe he could _actually_  be sick. “Keith?” Allura said, sounding concerned. She’d turned around to look at him. And now she was crossing the room, her eyebrows pinched together, her mouth downturned. Oh God, she was going to kiss him! Keith panicked, and right when she got close enough, he thrusted his hands out and held her back.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, staring at her in a panic.

“What?”

“I can’t kiss you,” he said, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to think of an excuse. Allura’s expression twisted into one of incredulity.

“Obviously I wasn’t about to kiss you,” she said.

“You weren’t?”

“Keith, this is a _fake_  relationship. There’d be no point pretending when no one else is around.”

And wow, did the heavens open up above! Keith breathed a sigh of relief.

“I know that!” he claimed. “You were just… moving towards me. Really fast. I thought you were trying to…”

Allura rolled her eyes. “You looked upset,” she said. “I was going to comfort you. You know, like friends do?”

“Right,” said Keith.

“You’ve never actually kissed anyone, have you?” Allura said suddenly. Ponderingly.

 _You couldn’t be more wrong, Princess,_  he thought. But in this universe, she was probably right. He had no idea why they were pretending to be dating, but Keith could pretty safely assume that he must be in the closet. “That’s none of your business,” Keith muttered, feeling like Lance would hedge around the question like that too.

“Fine, fine,” Allura said loftily, pretending she didn’t care. “I’ll just figure it out on my own. Ask Lance, maybe.”

Keith flushed. Okay, he certainly didn’t have the full story here. “Don’t do that,” he said sternly. And then added, after a moment of thought, “Listen. What if we, you know. Called off this whole fake relationship thing?”

Allura’s eyes widened in astonishment. Actually, scratch that. _Fake_  astonishment. “Called it off?” she gasped dramatically. “After all the begging and pleading you did? After all the _favors_  you offered me? Which you’ll still owe even if we call this off?” she added suddenly, a finger pointed in Keith’s face.

“Yes,” Keith said, and Allura rolled her eyes.

“It’s about time you got over your fear,” she said proudly. “You should go talk to Lance. That is what this was all about, right?” she pried.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Keith said, staying true to his alternate universe self, for once, and spinning on the spot. He hurried through the halls, taking it all in gratefully, and came to a stop in the hall where he and Lance lived.

When they’d first come to the castle, Allura had given them free reign of this floor, letting them all choose their rooms wherever they wanted. Hunk had picked one as close as the center as he could get, never wanting to be too far from any one place in case of an emergency. Pidge, on the other hand, practically lived in the lab. Her room was right next door to it, anyway. Keith had staked a claim in a room that he thought would be farthest from everyone else, still pretty overwhelmed at everything that was happening at the time, and Lance had chosen the room directly across from his, simply to annoy him.

But now, the real question was whose room was whose? Would Keith’s old room still be his room, in this universe? Or would that now be Lance’s room? Because, logically, _Keith_  would now have been the one to follow Lance to this corner of the castle…

Deciding that his room must now be Lance’s, he stood in front of it and knocked. A moment passed. And then:

“Why the hell are you knocking on your own door?” came a voice down the hall.

Keith spun, and the response that spilled out of him was automatic. “None of your business, Mullet!”

Lance glowered. “It’s _not_  a _mullet_  for the billionth time!” His face had gone a little red, and Keith was grinning. Okay… that _was_  kind of funny. Even though it really wasn’t a mullet at all.

“Can we talk?” Keith said.

“We’re talking right now,” Lance pointed out, and Keith had never hated himself more. Because Lance practically _was_  him, in this universe. And so Keith spun around and marched into Lance’s room, ignoring his protests of, “Hey! That’s my room, _idioto_!”

Keith stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Lance as he charged in after him, growling.

“What do you want?” Lance demanded. He was still marching towards Keith, still glowering at him. Keith stepped forward, meeting him halfway as Lance’s mouth opened, probably to yell at him even more, but Keith shut him up. He pulled him close and pressed their lips together, feeling Lance’s body stiffen against his in surprise.

Lance pulled away for a second, blinking at Keith as he murmured, “What?” but Keith just reeled him back in. He wrapped his arms around his neck, pressing into his mouth. Lance gasped against him, arms circling Keith’s waist, pulling him closer, tighter. And then he picked him up, hands gripping under Keith’s thighs as Keith was suddenly the one with the higher vantage point. He felt something in his stomach _flip_  as he clutched Lance. This was _new_. None of the Lances he’d met had kissed him like this before…

Lance pressed him against a wall, and Keith gasped into his mouth, ignoring the sudden cold of the metal against his back.

“What changed your mind?” Lance panted. “You freaked out when I kissed you last time.”

“I’m in love with you,” Keith blurted, and Lance faltered, his hands dropping from Keith’s thighs in surprise. Keith sucked in a breath as he clutched Lance tighter, trying not to fall, and Lance suddenly remembered what he was doing and hefted Keith up again.

“Is that true?” Lance murmured, all the heat and passion melting out of the moment. Replacing it was something soft. Something tender.

Keith pressed a kiss to Lance’s jaw, to the skin behind his ear. He whispered into his hair, “It’s always been true.”

“Fuck,” Lance said, breathless. He sounded amazed. “I’m gonna kiss you some more now, okay?”

“Okay,” Keith panted, and he pulled Lance back in.


	14. disney au

_“Lance, are you sure you’ve got him? You look like you’re suffocating.”_

_“I’m… fine… Hunk. Hah… Are we almost… there?”_

Keith could hear them clearly. He was sure of it now, sure of what he was witnessing for just seconds at a time. He could hear his team, back in his own universe. His spirit might be here, experiencing different realities, but his body was back home, protected by his friends. Or… being carted around by his friends? Still, the knowledge comforted him, because although he felt so far from home, he clearly wasn’t. His body was still there, and enough of his mind must have been, too, considering he could still hear them talking.

Their voices were gone now, though, whisked away on the wind, and Keith stared at everything around him curiously. Giant leaves. Giant rocks. Giant grass. The fuck?

A person-sized frog hopped into view, and Keith startled. Well, that was just terrifying.

“I’m gonna murder you,” said the person-sized frog, with a Lance-sounding voice.

And really, Keith hadn’t thought it could get much worse than him and Lance having each other’s personalities. But this was clearly much, _much_  worse. One glance at his own hands revealed that they, too, were green, and that he, too, was a frog.

“We’re frogs,” Keith pointed out, in a state of shock. There was a universe where they were _frogs?_ Sorry, but this was just a little too far.

“Astute observation, _yet again_ , my prince,” Lance snapped sarcastically. “Kissing you was supposed to turn you back! Not turn  _me_  into a _frog_.”

Okay, humans turned frogs. That was at least a _little_  more reasonable.

“We’ll figure this out!” Keith said, because for once, the problem that needed fixing was entirely obvious. Like, they were frogs. It didn’t get much easier than this.

“No, no, no, _you’ll_  figure this out. _I’m_  going to sit on this giant fucking leaf and wait until you turn us back!” Lance crossed his frog arms and plopped onto said leaf, glaring at Keith.

“I can’t do this alone!” Keith protested.

He tried to think. How had they turned human again in the movie? Because this entire fucked up scenario was clearly derived from The Princess and the Frog. He’d just watched it recently, he realized, his eyes having drifted shut as the movie had played on the screen before him, Lance’s commentary still popping up in the chat box beside it, Lance halfway across the country himself.

He felt himself begin to glower, realizing he’d fallen asleep before the movie had come to its completion. He’d never even seen that movie before — not in his own universe, at least. He had no idea how Tiana and Prince Naveen reversed their curse.

They _did_  turn human again at the end, right? Or, God, what if this was a Shrek kind of situation!? What if he and Lance were supposed to _accept themselves_  as they were?

Slowly, he turned to face Lance, still frowning. Yep, still very much a frog. Could he love a frog?

His first thought was _no, absolutely not_. Frogs weren’t humans. Period. The end.

But there Lance sat, his frog chin propped in his frog hand as his frog legs swung through the air before him, pouting. Keith felt a stupid, horrible realization. That despite everything, this was still _Lance_.

He imagined if it were his own Lance, rather than some poor unfortunate version of him from another universe. He imagined being on a mission with him and some witch turning him into a frog. Lance would probably be panicking, terrified and unsure of what had happened to him, unsure whether he’d ever go back to normal again.

Keith would be forced to pick him up. To hold him close to his chest. To tell him that everything would be all right and that they’d figure this out, that they’d track down the witch and turn him back and everything would be fine.

This Lance was probably panicking something similar to that imagined Lance. Wondering how long he’d be stuck like this for. Wondering what his family was thinking about his random disappearance.

Keith sighed.

Maybe the solution here, too, was to track down whoever had put them under this curse.

“Lance,” he said importantly, watching as Lance looked up at him glumly. “I promise I’m going to turn us back. We’re going to be fine.”

Lance glare was long gone. He just looked scared and alone.

“We’re in this together,” Keith added, extending a hand.

Lance shoved himself off the leaf, throwing his head skyward. “I barely even _know_  you,” he grumbled.

But he took Keith’s hand anyway.

—

It was quickly becoming apparent that trying to solve a problem without knowing much of the plot that the problem had come from wasn’t an easy task. Keith couldn’t remember what the bad guy’s name had been in the movie, nor where he could even find him.

In the end, he tried to lead Lance back to civilization, heart set on finding the Hunk and Pidge of this universe. Sure, they hadn’t been in the actual movie, but they were _Hunk and Pidge_. They were always finding solutions to problems that seemed unsolvable.

“My legs hurt,” Lance whined, using a twig to smack a piece of grass out of the way. Dew drops flew off of it, spattering Lance in the process. He pouted.

“Our legs were made for hopping,” Keith said, sticking out a leg in demonstration. “Walking shouldn’t be so tiresome.”

“Well then maybe my brain hurts,” Lance huffed. “It’s not every day you meet a prince and then said prince turns you into a frog.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Keith protested, but Lance had finally given up. He threw himself to the ground and laid there in defeat. Knowing a prone everything-is-hopeless-and-I-don’t-plan-to-move-for-several-hours Lance when he saw one, Keith didn’t bother trying to get him on his feet again. He just sat down beside him.

And tried to think.

If Keith’s kiss had turned Lance into a frog, maybe it could turn him human again. That wasn’t that outlandish a thought, right? And then Lance could go on with his life and the Keith of this reality could return to his (frog) body and figure out the rest for himself. It _was_  his problem, after all.

So how could Keith get Lance to kiss him? Solely to test the theory, of course.

Somehow, trying to think of how to seduce Lance was harder than it probably should’ve been. He’d successfully romanced Lance in a bunch of other universes, right? What was so different about this one?

Well, other than the fact he had to do it himself.

He’d been the one to make a move on that Lance at the Garrison, though. Even though he’d had a crush on Keith. Even though this Lance didn’t seem to care for Keith that much at all…

God, it should’ve been Lance on this ridiculous adventure. On this tumultuous reality-traversing experience. He was the one that was good at this sort of thing, relationships and dating and falling in love. Then again, it was probably better that it was Keith. If Lance were here, he might realize that Keith was in love with him in their own universe as well.

But maybe he could learn something from Lance. He was always flirting with the aliens they met, touching people’s hands and staring into their eyes and lowering his voice a pitch or two, making the object of his attention feel like the only person in the room. Or so Keith assumed. He’d only watched it from afar, usually while being forced to participate in some kind of banquet or party in their celebration.

“Lance,” Keith said, reaching out and grabbing Lance’s hand. Lance’s frog eyes widened, glancing between their hands and Keith’s face. “Your eyes… uh. You could swim in them.”

“Thanks?” Lance said, carefully taking his hand back. “You’re probably feeling a lot of urges to swim, considering you’re a frog right now.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Keith said. This was going horribly. “I’m just trying to say, I, uh, I like your eyes.”

Lance rolled them. “They’re better when I’m a human.”

“I know!” Keith agreed happily, and then not so happily once Lance was glaring at him. “Not that they’re not beautiful right now! I just… I’ve spent a lot of time staring into them, you know? I really like them.”

Lance scoffed. “You barely saw me as a human. You just asked me to kiss you to turn you back.”

“I would’ve asked you to kiss me even if I wasn’t a frog,” Keith declared, and _finally_ , he’d done something right. He had a feeling that if frogs could blush, Lance would be blushing right now.

“Oh,” he said. “Well — that’s — I’m.” He cleared his throat. “That’s beside the point,” he finally said loftily, before looking pointedly away. Feeling proud of himself, Keith let himself grin.

\--

It was a while before Lance let Keith kiss him, despite his flirting. He’d kept it up after his successful attempt, reveling in the way it made Lance flustered. He finally understood why Lance bothered to flirt all the time. Did he make people react like this often?

Keith didn’t think he would care whether he made anyone other than Lance flustered, though. He just liked the way it made him stumble over his words, or even his feet, if they happened to be walking. It made him crave the human Lance even more, wanting to see if his embarrassment would color his cheeks, or maybe the tips of his ears.

But finally, after detailing how much he liked Lance — not just the way he looked, with his vibrant eyes and expressive, kissable mouth and his soft-looking hair and that adorable upturn to his nose, but also the way he _was_ , with his humor and thoughtfulness and charm — Lance was sick of it.

“Will you shut up if I tell you I think you’re attractive too?!”

Keith did shut up. “Really?” he said, grinning.

“Yeah, now stop talking!”

“I don’t know,” Keith said, letting out a huge breath. “I mean, now that I know you like me as much as I like you…”

Lance interrupted him. “ _That_  might be a bit of a stretch,” he scoffed. “I mean, I didn’t spend ten minutes detailing the color of your eyes.”

 _“Now that I know you like me as much as I like you,”_  Keith continued, louder. “I think it needs to be proven with a kiss.”

“Are you kidding me?” Lance said, turning around to look at him. “That’s what got us into this whole mess!”

“Then maybe it could get us out of it!” Keith argued. “Come on, what do you say? Just one, small, _tiny_  kiss.”

Growling, Lance marched forward, grabbed Keith’s face with webbed hands, and planted one on him.

By the time Keith opened his eyes again, he was staring into depths of blue. Blue, surrounded by brown skin and lined with soft eyelashes, the eyebrows above raised up in surprise.

“It worked,” Keith whispered against Lance’s lips. Lance jolted, jerking away from him in order to hop into the air, pumping a fist.

“It worked!” he shouted, grinning as he continued to jump, grabbing Keith’s shoulders and jumping higher. He wasn’t still part-frog, was he?

Keith grabbed him, tugging him in by the hips and trying to pull him in for another kiss, but he ended up kissing Lance’s hand instead.

“Oooh no you don’t, buddy!” Lance said. “Those are magic lips! I don’t wanna turn into a frog again!”

Keith laughed against his hand. “You won’t!” he claimed. “Come on, kiss me again!”

“No!” Lance roared, before turning tail and sprinting away. Keith gave chase, breathless due to his laughter.


	15. soulmates au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soulmates on valentines day??? how fitting huh!!!

_“Ah, I was wondering when you’d return.”_

_“So it’s your fault he’s like this?”_

A soft bed. One that didn’t feel like a leaf or a lily pad, thank God.

And then, before Keith could even open his eyes or think anything of consequence, there was a weight in his lap. A Lance-shaped weight.

But then there was a hand at his throat, and Keith’s eyes flew open, taking in the Lance sitting on top of him, fire in his eyes and fingers quickly cutting of Keith’s supply of air.

“Lance—” he choked out, his hands coming up and splaying wide in a show of innocence.

“Who are you and what have you done with Keith?” Lance demanded.

“What?” Keith gasped, playing innocent, but also kind of choking. Lance loosened his hold so that Keith could talk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I _am_  Keith.”

“Nice try, but I don’t think so,” Lance bit out, before holding up his wrist. There was a delicate mark there, looking almost like a tattoo, in the shape of a heart.

“Uhh…”

“It glows when I’m in the presence of my soulmate,” Lance said, glowering. “So unless we’re _suddenly not soulmates anymore_ ,” he said, a flicker of hurt coming across his face, “then you’re not Keith.” A beat. “Please don’t be Keith,” he added.

“I’m not _your_  Keith,” Keith admitted, not wanting Lance to suddenly think he’d lost his soulmate. He wasn’t cruel. “Let me up?”

Lance was pouting, but slowly, he slid off of Keith and onto the bed beside him. He was wearing a soft t-shirt and a pair of boxers with little cats on them. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

Keith sighed. “Don’t I know it,” he muttered, sinking into himself. But he’d done this before, and that Lance had been furious at him — had locked him up in a cage and everything. Granted, Keith had been on the verge of turning into a werewolf, but still.

He explained it clinically. Told the whole story without emotion — the alternate universes, Voltron, the queen of Exrus. He told Lance of the other realities he’d been to, the other Lances he’d met. He told him of them dating in every reality, the two of them always together, without fail.

Lance looked amazed. And he was still just sitting there, staring at Keith in a state of shock or awe, while Keith awaited his judgement. Waited for Lance to call him a liar or kick him out of their apartment.

Instead, he just grinned. “Well that explains this, at least,” he said, holding up his wrist with a relieved sigh. Keith didn’t know quite how to feel about it. He guessed it was nice, knowing that each of the Lances he met truly belonged with the Keiths he was replacing. Then again, it meant he truly belonged with none of them. That each and every experience he’d shared with them was stolen — taken from the Keith it belonged to. That Keith, despite his longing, despite his love, belonged with no Lance.

“So... soulmates exist in your universe?” Keith said, breaking himself out of his depressing thoughts. Lance looked up at him.

“All universes, apparently,” he said, his mouth quirking upward.

Keith frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been to, what, a million universes by now? And we were dating in all of them?”

“Fourteen,” Keith corrected him. “Not that I’m counting.”

Lance laughed. “So it’s settled, then,” he said with a happy shrug. “My universe got it right.”

 _Unlike mine,_  Keith thought, unusually bitter. It wasn’t his Lance’s fault, he knew that. The fault laid in the universe’s hands. Or his own, if anyone’s.

Maybe he hadn’t done something that the other versions of himself had. Or maybe there was just something different about him. Something the other Lances hadn’t picked up on in their limited time spent with him.

Regardless, something was broken. Wrong. Keith, maybe. He’d developed feelings in the one universe where he wasn’t meant to.

Lance was frowning. “What?” he said.

“What?” Keith repeated.

“You said ‘unlike mine,’” Lance clarified. Shit, he’d said that out loud? “What do you mean?”

Keith shifted uncomfortably. “Nothing.”

Lance glared at him. “You’re my soulmate,” he said flatly. “We’ve been together for two years now. I can tell when you’re lying to me. You glower, just a little bit. You’re defensive, you know that?”

“I’m not defensive,” Keith snapped, glowering. Lance just raised his eyebrows pointedly, and Keith sighed.

“We’re not together in my universe,” he admitted, his voice soft. Sad.

“Not yet,” Lance tacked on loudly. Keith scoffed.

“Not ever,” he corrected him. “You don’t like me like that.”

“I can assure you that I do,” Lance said, gesturing at himself demonstratively. “Very much so.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, in _this_  universe.”

“And all the other ones!” Lance protested. “Didn’t you say you’d been to ones where we were just getting together?” When Keith didn’t answer, Lance shoved him pointedly, and Keith huffed before nodding reluctantly. “See!? It just hasn’t happened in yours yet! It’s coming.”

And Keith, for the first time since all of this had started, let himself think about it in that light. Not that his universe was wrong, or broken, or one big, giant mistake — but that his time had just yet to come. That Lance would end up feeling the same about him, if he didn’t already. He let himself get his hopes up.

“You really think so?” he asked quietly, already thinking about it. He imagined stumbling out of the pod and into Lance’s waiting arms, Lance laughing against his hair and pulling him into a crushing hug, rubbing Keith’s back up and down. He imagined pulling out of the hug and kissing Lance, who would blush, but grin, and then pull him in and kiss him back.

“You’re blushing,” Lance said, sounding delighted. “God, this is like when we had just gotten together.”

“Really?” Keith said, kind of breathless at the idea. Him and Lance at the beginning of their relationship... what would that be like?

“Yeah!” Lance said. “Like, you were absolute trash at compliments. Both giving and receiving, by the way. It was adorable.”

“Stop,” Keith muttered.

“And you were blushy too!” Lance exclaimed, grinning widely. “Aww, everything used to make you flustered. Look at those red cheeks.”

“ _Stop_ ,” Keith growled, and he shoved Lance back onto the bed, climbing on top of him and pinning him there.

“Never!” Lance laughed. “Cute, flustered, alternate universe boyfriend o’ mine. How jealous do you think other me is gonna be when he finds out about all the other Lances you’ve dated?”

Keith shook his head, trying to make the heat in his face go away. “I’m not really dating any of you,” he protested.

“Yeah? How many of us have you kissed?”

No response.

“Oooh that’s telling!” Lance sang, cackling. “Keith, you player! You’ve been making the moves on all of me!”

“Stop!” Keith roared, shaking him now, but Lance was laughing and Keith was following in his footsteps, his head hanging between his shoulders as his hands fisted in Lance’s shirt.

“Can’t,” Lance sighed happily. “You’re too cute. I’m glad you’re getting to experience all of us. Honestly, your Lance is probably going to be more jealous of you than anything. Bet he’d wanna see all the other Keiths there are.”

Defeated, Keith rolled off of Lance and threw an arm over his eyes, lying beside him on the bed. “You really think so?”

“For sure,” Lance said. Keith felt him shift, and when he peeked, Lance had propped himself up on an elbow beside him. “I bet he loves you already,” he sighed dreamily. “You know, if you really think about it, this whole adventure of yours is really romantic.”

“Of course you would think that,” Keith scoffed.

“It’s _true_!” Lance argued. “You, having to visit all these versions of _me_  just to realize that I love you back? Maybe you’ll even go home after this. Have a big reunion kiss and everything.”

Keith didn’t dare let himself dream of it. Except he could feel the excitement bubbling up within him. Imagine that, if the end of this journey was really that close? Within his grasp. Achievable just the next time he glitched, which would be any minute now. He could recognize the beginning signs of it now.

“What about what the queen said?”

“She’s a hoe,” Lance said, making Keith snort. “She just wanted to scare you. Make you go through all these universes with those words hanging over your head.”

“I really hope so,” Keith sighed. “I can’t wait to go home.”

“I bet you’ll be there sooner than you think,” Lance said. His eyes were gleaming. And then he leaned over and pressed a kiss against Keith’s cheek.

Keith closed his eyes, letting a smile take over his face. He let himself hope. And, when the time finally came, he let himself glitch.


	16. college au

_“Evil, conniving, bitch,” Lance’s voice said, distant. “Do you think he’s okay, wherever he is?”_

No, no, no!

Keith opened his eyes, looking around desperately, but he wasn’t staring at the faces of his friends through the tinted glass of a healing pod. He was in yet another universe, and just like that, the weight of the world seemed to come crashing down on him.

His breath hitched, his eyes filling with tears, and Keith just thanked the universe that he was already sitting on a bed. He promptly laid down, careening to the side and letting his face crash into the pillow as his body shook with silent sobs.

Why? Why was this _still happening to him_? He felt empty. Like someone had come along and scooped out all his insides, leaving him barren and pointless and dead to the world. He didn’t want to do anything. He just wanted to go _home_.

Why had Lance been wrong? He’d been so sure that Keith would return to his own universe, to his own life, to his own _Lance_ , and Keith had been stupid enough to believe him.

And yet, he still felt that inkling of hope that Lance had been right — about all the other stuff, anyway. Keith definitely knew more about universes than him, but Lance had known more about soulmates. That had to count for something, right?

Another breath shuddered out of Keith. His pillow was wet against his face, and his chest ached with his concentrated breaths, Keith desperately trying not to full-on sob. His entire body felt strung out and weak. How much longer could he take this? Getting jerked out of one reality and tossed into another? Having his hopes nurtured and razed over and over again?

The door to the room creaked open, and Keith froze. Where even was he? He hadn’t taken the time to take in his surroundings like he usually did. He was on a bed, he knew that. The room had seemed pretty small…

“I swear, this is why we should never go to your dorm,” Lance’s voice complained loudly. “The bathroom _never_  has paper towels. I’m tired of drying my hands on my shirt!”

Of course it was Lance. Keith relaxed slightly, trying to get a handle on himself. What would he say if Lance realized he was crying?

“Keith, babe, are you okay?” Lance said suddenly, seeming to realize there was something wrong. “Keith?” The bed sank beside him, and a hand fell on his hip. Keith sniffed loudly, and Lance peered into his line of sight, looking concerned. “Woah, hey, what’s wrong?” he said, his voice infinitely softer.

Keith closed his eyes. “Nothing. I don’t know.”

Lance laid down on the bed beside him, tugging Keith into his arms. It felt nice. Good, to be held like that. Wrapped up in his touch. Comforted.

“Is it finals?” Lance murmured, his lips moving against the back of Keith’s neck. “We’ve still got time. I can help you study, you know?”

Keith just shrugged, his shoulders jerking indecisively against Lance and the bed. He was afraid that if he talked, his voice would come out sounding all croaky and broken. He could barely hold it together.

“Come on,” Lance said, and he pulled Keith, rolled him over, until he was facing Lance. His scooted until his head was pillowed on Lance’s shoulder and Lance wrapped his arm around his back, the other one coming up to play with his hair. “You want to talk about it?”

Keith shook his head. He didn’t want to have to describe it all for yet another Lance. Didn’t want to even think about it anymore. He just wanted to forget. Just wanted to go home.

“You wanna put on stupid movies and cuddle until you feel better?” Lance prompted further, and Keith nodded against his shoulder, another tear slipping out of his eye. God, he was pathetic.

“Okay,” Lance said, his voice a whisper, and he pressed a kiss against Keith’s temple. “You stay right here,” he instructed. “I’ll get everything we need.”

Lance scooted out from under Keith, who curled into the warm space he left, and disappeared from the room. When he returned, he was holding a carton of ice cream and two spoons, and he grabbed a laptop off the desk in the room, unplugging all the chords that had been plugged into it.

“Scooch,” he said as he got back, and Keith obeyed, his eyes now dry and itchy with the aftermath of his tears. He felt maybe a little less pathetic.

Lance stacked up a mountain of pillows behind them, settling back against them and pulling Keith into his chest. He planted the ice cream in Keith’s lap, holding out a spoon and waiting for Keith to grab it.

“Pidge says we owe her for the ice cream, but considering the amount of times we’ve hauled her sleeping corpse out of your room and back to her own dorm, I think we deserve it,” Lance said, grinning. Keith snorted in amusement. How was it that Lance could manage to cheer him up when he didn’t even know what was wrong?

“Now, I’ve got an entire list of cheer up movies to choose from,” Lance continued. “Unless you just want to watch something that’s gonna make us cry. I’ve got a shit ton of them too. What do you want?”

Keith cleared his throat. Shrugged. “Whatever you want,” he mumbled, idly twirling his spoon in his hand. Lance tugged him against him a little tighter.

“Cheer up movies it is, then,” he declared. Lance ended up putting on a movie called Enchanted, where a cartoon princess fell into the real world and met a boring business man in a dead-end relationship. It felt good, watching movies with Lance. He was good at making funny comments, always sarcastic and quippy enough that they drew a laugh out of Keith, without making so many that he ruined the movie for him.

When the characters ended up in the park, and Giselle began singing a song that everyone except Robert mysteriously knew, Lance sang it to him. He swayed them back and forth on the bed, murmuring into Keith’s ear, “How do I knooow, he loves me? How do I knooow, he’s miiine?”

Keith chuckled, and Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist, still holding onto his spoon, and held it up to his own mouth like a microphone. “Well, does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?”

“Stop,” Keith said.

“Send you yellow flowers when the sky is gray? Heeyyy!”

“Lance.”

“He’ll find a new way to show you, a little bit every day!”

Keith pressed his spoon against Lance’s lips, successfully shutting him up but feeling light and warm inside. “You’re an idiot,” he told him.

“That’s how you knooow, he’s your love,” Lance said along with the movie.

“You’re a nerd.”

“But is this nerd making you feel any better?” Lance asked, his eyebrows raised hopefully.

“You always make me feel better,” Keith told him, and Lance pressed a smacking kiss against his cheek. The movie continued, and they cuddled in closer to keep watching. Keith took his spoon hand back and shoveled another bite of comfort ice cream into his mouth. And then Lance opened his mouth wide, despite having his own spoon and working arm, but Keith did the same for him anyway.

They got through two more movies before Keith finally glitched away, and he found himself appreciating every moment he got to spend with Lance. He also found himself realizing that sometimes there wasn’t a problem he had to fix when he went to these realities. Sometimes, it was Lance helping him.


	17. thunderpike au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all. i tried to edit this chapter last night at 2am after _quite_ a few drinks and i'm so glad i conked out before i could post it lmao. i somehow deleted a couple paragraphs??? and italicized random things??? anyway i remember responding to comments last night too so hopefully everything i said was sane lol
> 
> (almost smut at the end!)
> 
> edit: the chapter now has a title lmao

“ _I wonder what he’s doing in all those alternate realities. What lesson do you think the queen is trying to teach him?_ ”

Keith was blushing when he popped into existence in the next reality. For his sake, he hoped Lance never found out. At least, not until he could tell him himself. After he’d successfully won his heart.

That’s when he found himself staring at a Lance that was very clearly not his own. He had big, furry ears and markings on his face, and he was curled up on the ground in his sleep. A cape was stretched out underneath him, and his arms were folded under his head. Keith sighed just looking at him. Every Lance he met was adorable.

Thankfully, Keith didn’t seem to be too different from his own self in this universe. He had all human features, at least, although his clothing was rather… sparse. He was wearing a vest without any shirt underneath it, like that Lance from the pirate universe. Thankfully, the shirtlessness was where it ended, because he was wearing black pants, tucked into a pair of knee-high boots. Twin broadswords hung from his waist in scabbards, the blades long and curved. He pulled one out, examining it appreciatively.

“Planning on stabbing me in my sleep?” Lance piped up, one eye having peeked open. Despite his words, he looked totally relaxed, completely comfortable laying there vulnerably beside Keith.

“Not today,” Keith joked, and Lance’s eyes closed as he stretched, his expression morphing into a cat-like grin.

“Good,” Lance said. “We still have a lot to do today. Meklavar promised me twenty silver pieces if we take out this rogue that’s been on her tail.”

Greeaaat. Keith hated it when he had no idea what was going on in these universes. Who was Meklavar? And what was a rogue?

“Leggo, Stormy,” Lance said as he pushed himself to his feet, shaking his cape out before swinging it around his shoulders. Keith raised an eyebrow at the nickname but didn’t question it, not wanting to give himself away. Lance, meanwhile, surveyed the area around them before checking a few things on his person, a pouch of jangling coins at his waist and a dagger strapped to his hip. As he did, Keith noticed a tail flicking through the air behind him.

Once Lance seemed to be sure that he wasn’t forgetting anything, they set off, no bags or supplies to speak of. It was a long, arduous journey, but their bodies could handle it, apparently accustomed to these kinds of trips. They only paused so that Lance could kill a couple rabbits for the both of them to eat, doing so by disappearing out of thin air and reappearing directly beside the prey, where he quickly caught them up and silenced them with his dagger.

While they ate, Lance called down a bird and wrote some sort of letter before sending it off, presumably to Meklavar, if that was how they communicated over long distances in this universe. It was another few hours before they caught up to the rogue that had apparently been chasing their friend (or business partner?) and that, too, was quick work.

They hid behind trees as the man sat down for his lunch, completely unaware of his company. Lance teleported behind him, scaring him into action with a light, “Boo,” and he ran straight for Keith and into his waiting swords. Afterwards, Lance rifled through his clothing for any valuables, taking all the money he had and examining his weapon before tossing it aside with a scoff.

“Well, that was boring,” he said not long after they’d completed their job. Were they assassins? “If Meklavar asks, though, it was extremely difficult and you almost lost your mullet to his excellent swordsmanship. Maybe we can eke another ten silvers out of her.”

“Whatever you say, Lance,” Keith joked, and Lance gave him a strange look.

“What did you call me?”

Suddenly, Keith remembered the fact that Lance had yet to call him Keith all day. He’d been calling him things like ‘Stormy’ and ‘Thunder’ and at one point even ‘Darkness’.

“Just thought it could be a new nickname,” Keith said, panicking. Lance was frowning, but he finally shook his head.

“Nah,” he said. “Lance is like… that’s too formal of a weapon, you know? Like, _‘oooh, look at me, I have a laaaance’_.” He snorted. “But a Pike is like… it just sounds like I could stab you so good with it.”

Keith snorted. Pike? Was that his name in this universe?

“You’re right,” Keith relented. “Lance is definitely no Pike.”

Lance grinned. “Cute of you to try to give me a nickname, though. C’mon! I think I hear water nearby.”

Keith couldn’t hear water at all, and he soon learned that that was due to Lance’s advanced hearing. Apparently, hearing water nearby actually meant hearing water nearly a mile away, and Lance whooped when they finally stumbled across it, standing there proudly with his hands on his hips as he looked out at the slowly moving river.

“Ugh, it’s been too long since I’ve had a good bath,” he said, immediately starting to strip out of his clothes. He stopped a moment later though, now shirtless, and shot a glance at Keith. “What, you just gonna watch me?”

“It’s not a bad view,” Keith said with a shrug, and Lance went red. Oh, hell, were they not together yet in this universe?

“Turn around, you perv,” Lance said, not sounding particularly biting. The two of them turned away from each other and undressed, and Keith only turned back around once he’d heard a whoop and a splash, wading into the fairly cold river himself.

It was hard not to look at Lance. Partly because he seemed all the more irresistible when Keith couldn’t have him, and partly because he was just so… _different_. He had fur in all sorts of places that Keith hadn’t expected, and his eyes were especially drawn to the soft looking patch leading down from his belly button. Not to mention there were different kinds of stripes and patterns decorating his entire body.

Lance caught him staring several times, and each time Keith turned abruptly away, averting his eyes and pretending like he hadn’t been looking in the first place.

It was while Keith was washing his hair, having just bent over to scrub it underwater, that he realized he wasn’t alone anymore. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he spun around to find Lance looming over him, having been standing directly behind him. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was squinting at Keith suspiciously.

“What?” Keith said.

“You’re being weird,” Lance decided, jabbing a finger into Keith’s chest. It was only then that Keith realized Lance’s fingers had claws, and this one in particular was pressed threateningly against his skin.

“No I’m not,” Keith claimed.

“But you are,” Lance pressed. “You’re the one who said anything happening between us would be a bad idea. Business partners, and all that. But _now_ you’re coming up with weird nicknames for me and flirting with me and _staring_ at me. What’s up with you?”

“Maybe I was wrong,” Keith said, taking a careful step back. Lance followed him, stepping in even closer than before. Keith became abruptly aware of the fact that they were naked.

“You? Admitting you were _wrong_?” Lance said disbelievingly, and Keith shrugged. Lance was still glaring at him, and he inched closer, until they were nearly chest to chest. He began to lean in, excruciatingly slow. “You’re not going to stop me again, are you?” he murmured quietly. All Keith could do was shake his head.

And then Lance was on him. He pulled Keith in and kissed him hard, the both of them gasping against each other’s mouths. Lance’s hand slid down his back, pulling him close, pulling them together, and Keith moaned, Lance’s claws pressing into his skin just enough to remind him of their presence.

Between one moment and the next, Lance had hiked him up, so that Keith’s arms were wrapped around his neck and Lance’s hands were fitted beneath his thighs as he sloshed through the water and towards the shore.

They didn’t quite make it there. Almost out of the water, Lance dropped him, so that Keith was still mostly submerged when Lance clambered on top of him, pressing him into the ground with his own body-weight. Except Keith could hardly care about the rocks or grass or mud because Lance was kissing him again, his hands sliding down his body as he ground down against Keith, like a… Well, like an animal.

“Lance,” Keith gasped, and Lance kissed his name out of his mouth, letting out a sound suspiciously like a purr when Keith reached down between them, holding their cocks in one hand.

“Fuck,” Lance gasped, his lips pressed against Keith’s ear. “Why didn’t we do this before?”

“Because I’m an idiot?” Keith guessed.

“Yes, yes, exactly that,” Lance said, jerking up into Keith’s hand.

And then the most horrifying thing happened.

Keith felt the glitch coming.

Confusion and desperation overtook him, and he started moving his hand even faster, afraid of what would happen if he popped into the next universe this turned on.

“Faster,” Lance moaned into his ear, and Keith tried to comply, the water making it wet and slippery and the glitch was coming, igniting inside him, spreading and expanding and—

It took him. And he was still achingly hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look i'm sorry for the blue balls but you'll forgive me tomorrow UWU


	18. celebrity au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm really proud of this chapter ngl
> 
> (smut in the beginning!)

_“Does he look a little flushed to you guys?”_

Keith gasped as he looked around, heart pounding and cock still hard — fuck — before he realized he was in bed. Oh, God bless.

Desperate, he kicked off his boxers and went to town, leaning back against the exorbitantly fluffy pillows behind him. His eyes slipped shut, his mouth falling open as he panted, toes curling into the bedsheets…

“Wow, no one told me I’d be walking in on a show.”

Keith gasped. His eyes flew open as he yanked the covers over himself, face burning red as he stared at the Lance standing in the doorway to his bedroom. Oh fuck, this was his bedroom, right?

“Lance,” Keith said, panicked and embarrassed.

“Sorry for showing up unannounced,” Lance said, holding up two coffees, one no doubt filled to the brim with diabetes. “The doorman let me in. Next time, I’ll text.”

“Right,” Keith muttered.

“By all means, don’t let me stop you.”

And that, somehow, was even more embarrassing.

“Lance,” Keith said again, a note of warning in his voice, but Lance ignored it.

“What?” he said innocently, coming closer to the bed. He set one of the drinks on the bedside table before plopping himself comfortably next to Keith and taking a sip of his own. “Continue,” he suggested with a little wave of his hand.

“No way,” Keith said.

“Come ooon,” he pressed, before pulling the covers off of Keith with a flourish. He pulled them farther away when Keith reached for them. “You can’t just leave Keith junior waiting!”

“Don’t call it that,” Keith groaned.

“I mean, I’d do it for you, but my wrist hurts from signing autographs all morning,” he said with a pout, lifting up his hand and letting his wrist flop pathetically. “Oh, and we need to find a new coffee shop, by the way,” he tacked on. Keith was glaring at him. Lance just looked at him innocently.

“It’s weird, when you’re here,” Keith said finally.

Lance just pressed in closer, scooting until his clothed body was pressed against Keith’s mostly naked one. He set his drink on the windowsill before trailing a finger over Keith’s chest. “Come on,” he said softly. “For me?”

Keith huffed out a breath. He was definitely permanently red, by now. And Lance was staring at him with that gaze, all faux-innocence and stupid, cocky, sultriness.

Kind of hating himself, Keith shoved his hand back between his legs. When Lance let out a cheer, he closed his eyes, determined to ignore him. Except it was impossible when Lance kept touching his chest like that, and eventually, he trailed his hand even lower before pushing his shirt up. Languidly touched his stomach and his hips. Kept making these encouraging kind of _humming_  sounds whenever Keith sucked in a breath, or whenever his hips jerked up into his fist. It was totally humiliating, and as such, a very embarrassing turn-on.

“You’re clooose,” Lance sang quietly, obviously having known Keith for long enough to tell when he was reaching that point. He could feel it coming too, his breaths coming faster, his teeth digging into his lower lip. “Lemme hear you.”

“Lance,” Keith said warningly.

“Wanna hear your pretty sounds,” Lance pressed, his finger coming up to pull Keith’s lip out from between his teeth. He gasped, the noise shaky and drawn out, and when he opened his eyes — just a slit — he could _see_  Lance’s satisfaction. Still, he didn’t suck his lip back into his mouth. He just moved his hand faster, his chest rising and falling more quickly now, and tiny, embarrassing noises kept escaping from his mouth.

He shifted, one knee rising up for better leverage against the bed, his eyes falling closed again and his head tilting back. Lance immediately connected his lips to his neck, his tongue hot against Keith’s skin, and he finally came with a drawn out moan, twitching and shaking where he lay.

“That was good, huh?” Lance murmured, his hand patting the side of Keith’s butt.

“It was embarrassing.”

“It was _hot_ ,” Lance corrected him. “Now c’mon, your coffee’s getting cold.”

Keith pushed himself up, accepting the tissues and coffee that Lance handed him with as much grace as he could muster. Lance just cuddled up next to him, apparently unfazed with cuddling a naked Keith while he was clothed. Lance dug a remote out from under the pillows and pointed it at the biggest TV Keith had ever seen in his life. He hadn’t noticed it at first because it’d just looked like a mirror, but now images were playing out against it just like it was any other TV.

Still reeling from possibly the best orgasm he’d ever had, Keith settled in to watch TV with Lance, absently remembering something he’d said earlier. _Autographs?_

\--

Autographs. Autographs on top of autographs on top of autographs. Keith couldn’t go anywhere in this universe without signing them, because in this universe, he and Lance were famous.

“Keith! Keith!” someone shouted. Paparazzi. There were cameras and microphones and flashing lights and Keith was just trying to get to the car waiting for him, apparently late to some event he had promised to attend, Lance screaming at him in a hushed voice over the phone, having snuck into a bathroom to remind Keith, very pointedly, that he was supposed to be there.

“Keith, is it true that you have a secret boyfriend?!” someone demanded. Oh, and he and Lance weren’t public about their relationship in this universe either. Joy. Actually, that was probably the problem Keith was supposed to be fixing, but he didn’t feel like tackling any problems right then. There was kind of a lot going on, in this universe.

“Keith!” another reporter shouted. “Tell us, what’s his name!”

“Is he famous too?”

“Is he in the closet? Is that why you won’t talk about it?”

Keith growled, wishing he had his knife, before finally shoving through the rest of them and making it to the back of the limousine. The door slammed shut behind him and the paparazzi shoved themselves against it, smacking on the windows and shouting questions through the glass.

“Ready?” the driver asked.

“More than,” Keith grunted angrily, and then they were off. Keith absently hoped that they’d run over some of the paparazzi.

They arrived at the event sooner than Keith would’ve liked, given the fact that he had no idea how to act in this kind of crowd. His driver opened the door for him before going off to find somewhere to park. Apparently he was just going to wait around all night until Keith was ready to leave.

A man opened the front door to the mansion before Keith could knock and greeted him with his first name, shaking hands with him jovially. Inside, there were hundreds of people milling about, all dressed as extravagantly as Keith and holding glasses of wine or champagne.

It was all Keith could do to find Lance.

He was totally out of his element, chatting with strangers and laughing at their small talk and thanking them for the apparently wonderful job he’d done in his most recent movie. When he finally found Lance, it was on a balcony, his elbows planted on the railing as he leaned over it, a cigarette dangling from his fingers.

Keith plucked it out of his hand to examine it, Lance apparently not having heard the balcony door open behind him, given his gasp.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Keith said, and immediately regretted. What if he _did_  know Lance smoked?

Except Lance just sighed, looking a little embarrassed. “I shouldn’t,” he said.

“You’re right,” Keith agreed with him, before dropping the cigarette to the ground and crushing it underfoot. His dad had smoked. He’d always smelled like smoke, and not the housefire kind. He remembered a neighbor kid crossing his arms and jeering at him.

“ _Your dad smokes_ ,” he’d said. _“He’s gonna get lung cancer and die.”_

 _“My dad is_ not _gonna die,”_ Keith had protested vehemently, his hands curling into fists.

 _“Yuh-huh!”_ the boy had shouted. _“Smoking kills people! It’s probably killing all of us, too!”_

Keith remembered crying to his father that night and asking him to stop smoking, telling him he was killing himself. His dad had held him tight and promised he was going to stop.

A few weeks later, Keith had caught him smoking out on the back porch and had burst into tears.  _“You said you quit!”_ Keith had cried. _“I hate you!”_

The next day, Keith had arrived home from school to an empty house. He’d had his very own key for situations like this, days where work made his father late, so he’d traipsed inside to wait, not at all bothered at the prospect of being home alone. He’d been a very grown up nine-year-old, after all.

But the wait had grown longer and longer. An hour had passed, then two. Keith had grown hungry, as usually his dad helped him fix an after-school snack when he got home.

Unwilling to feel guilty about spoiling his dinner, Keith had wandered into the kitchen and made the messiest peanut butter and jelly sandwich possible. Hands still sticky with jelly, he’d delivered the paper plate he’d made his sandwich on to the trash can, staring curiously at the pack of cigarettes nestled within it.

Not twenty minutes later, the police had knocked on his door. The rest was history.

“Thanks,” Lance said, staring down at the smoke escaping out from under Keith’s shoe.

“No problem,” Keith said. He leaned towards Lance, bumping their shoulders together. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lance said, turning to smile at him. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Better late than never,” Keith joked.

“You make fashionably late look early,” Lance scoffed, but he didn’t seem annoyed. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Keith’s lips with a hum.

And just like that — a flash. They broke apart, startled, and peered down into the garden below, where a photographer was already sprinting away.

 _“Hey!”_ Lance screeched, unbridled panic evident in the sound of his voice, and he turned to look at Keith in horror, his eyes wide and his fear unfiltered. “Oh my God,” he muttered.

“Lance,” Keith said.

“Oh my God,” Lance repeated, staring out towards the garden again. “Oh, fuck,” he mumbled, before sinking to the ground. He stuck his legs out from under the railing and leaned his head against the bars, his hands curling around them. He looked like a man in a jail-cell — from the outside, at least.

Lance pulled out another cigarette, a lighter already in hand, but Keith plucked it from between his fingers before he could light up.

“Hey, come on,” he murmured, watching as Lance placed his hands back on the bars again.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” Lance said, his voice heavy and defeated. Guilt-ridden. “We’re over.”

“Lance, what?” Keith said incredulously. “Why would you say that?”

“Why do you think I wanted to keep our relationship a secret?” Lance demanded. “All my relationships that have gone public have been ruined. It just — it ruins everything! We won’t last a week.”

“Hey, look at me,” Keith said. Lance continued to stare defeatedly into the distance. _“Look at me.”_

Lance looked at him.

“We’ll last more than a week,” Keith promised him. “Okay? I love you. We’re meant to be together. No rabid fans are going to change that.”

Lance laughed, smooshing his cheek against the bars as he looked at Keith. “Now look who’s the optimist,” he said softly, staring at Keith with such unbridled love in his eyes. He didn’t know what exactly he was talking about, but he could very well guess. Back home, the team was always joking about the two of them — pessimist Keith and optimist Lance. It was just how they were.

“I’m always optimistic about you,” Keith said, trying desperately to ignore the irony in that, considering he’d never been willing to believe Lance would actually like him. Lance reached over and grabbed his hand.

“I’m optimistic about you, too,” he said, and he sighed when Keith tugged his hand up to press a kiss against his knuckles. And then Lance stood up, tugging his hand away. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “I better notify my family before the press can. They’ll kill me otherwise.”

Keith leaned back on his elbows, watching as Lance walked towards the door. “Hurry back,” he joked, ignoring Lance’s eye-roll.

He laid back on the balcony and looked up at the stars once Lance was gone. It was marvelous, really. How similar they were, all across the universe. How he was staring up at them right now, at all those familiar ones that decorated the Earth’s night sky, when meanwhile, he was actually somewhere millions of miles away, flying among them.


	19. childhood friends au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> monday AGAIN. we're back on that grind y'all smh

_Tap. Tap tap. Tap tap tap. “Aw, come on!”_

_I’m trying_ , Keith thought. And then he accepted the fact that he wasn’t home — yet again — and opened his eyes.

Somehow, after showing up in realities where he was full Galra or a werewolf or a fucking _frog_  — this was the most disorienting. Looking down and seeing little hands. Little shoes. Little clothes and knobbly knees and, if he were to look in a mirror, surely chubby cheeks.

In all his time traversing realities, he’d been vaguely around the same age. High school and college aged. For some reason, he hadn’t expected to find himself in what must’ve been his ten-year-old self’s body. Maybe because he hadn’t expected him and Lance to be falling in love at just ten years old.

He was sitting on the floor of what was clearly a child’s bedroom, the ground littered with toys, though they seemed to be currently going ignored, considering the superhero comic laying open in front of Keith.

_“Keith. Come in, Keith. Over.”_

Keith glanced around, frowning, before spotting a walkie-talkie laying on his bed. That was no doubt what Lance’s voice had emanated from. He stood up and crossed the room, picking up the device before pressing the button. “What is it Lance?” he said.

A pause.

 _“You didn’t say ‘over’,”_ Lance said. _“Over.”_

Keith threw his head back and groaned. Of _course_  Lance would be an annoying kid. But then again, he did sound kind of adorable.

“What do you want, _over_ ,” Keith said, exasperated.

 _“You need to meet at the tree house right now, over,”_ Lance said urgently, and finally, Keith detected the note of hurt in his voice. The sadness. He sounded genuinely upset.

“I’ll be right there,” Keith told him, despite the fact that he had no idea where ‘there’ even was. With any luck, it’d be right in his own back yard.

He looked around, trying to figure out whether there was anything he ought to bring, before deciding just the walkie-talkie would do. He shoved it into his sweatshirt pocket before pounding down the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going, mister?” a voice called, and Keith froze. Not because he’d been caught by some form of authority, but because…

 _“Dad?”_ he choked out, spinning around abruptly. His dad was sitting on the couch in a family room that wasn’t theirs, in a house that wasn’t theirs, but it was  _him_. He looked exactly how Keith remembered him, right down to that quizzical look he was giving Keith. The same look he’d given him whenever Keith had said something particularly outlandish, or spouted something that he probably wasn’t supposed to know but had read in a library book.

“Why’re you looking at me like that?” his dad laughed, and then grunted, once Keith had sprinted across the room and propelled himself into his arms, hugging him as tight as he could. He pretended to groan in pain, hugging Keith to him as he laughed again. “You’re getting strong,” he said. “Come on, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Keith said, hiding his face in his dad’s shoulder. He even _felt_  the same. His eyes were welling up with tears, his body surely shaking in his father’s arms. “I just love you, okay? I could never hate you. Never.”

“I know that,” his dad murmured, reaching up to run a hand through Keith’s hair. “Is this about that fight we had?”

Keith sniffed. He didn’t know of any fight they’d had, but he figured it was good they’d had one. It would explain his behavior, at least.

“Keith,” his father said. “C’mon, look at me.” Reluctantly, Keith sat back, his hands still fisted in his father’s shirt as he sat in his lap. “I know you didn’t mean it,” his dad said gently. “Every father knows that.”

A tear slipped down Keith’s cheek, and his dad laughed ruefully, wiping it away. “Families fight sometimes!” he said, grinning as he cupped Keith’s face. As he brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Alright? They fight, and they say things they don’t mean, and even while they’re saying it, they know they don’t mean it. I’ll always love you, and I know you’ll always love me. Nothing could change that.”

Keith’s lip wobbled. He’d tried not to think about it, some of the last words he’d said to his father. They weren’t his very last words — he hadn’t the slightest clue what they’d been, though he knew he must’ve talked to his father before leaving for school that day. But what had always stuck out in his mind was that conversation from the night before. The words, _“I hate you!”_ escaping his mouth. The thought that his dad had gone into that house, had tried to fight that fire, knowing that those were some of the last words he’d ever hear from his son.

But he must’ve known Keith loved him, right? That’s what his dad was saying now. Here. And essentially, they were all the same across realities.

_“Keith?”_

Keith jerked, glancing down at his sweatshirt pocket. His dad chuckled, ruffling Keith’s hair.

“Sounds like Lance wants you,” he said.

“He wants to meet in the tree house,” Keith informed him.

“Well then put some bug spray on, would you? Those woods are full of ticks.” his father said, patting Keith on the side as Keith clambered off his lap. “And bring the both of you a water bottle. You always stay out longer than you say you will.”

“Sorry,” Keith said.

“Don’t be sorry,” his dad laughed, and Keith leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“See you tonight,” he said, beyond happy, and he tried to memorize the look on his dad’s face, the shape of his smile and the crinkles by his eyes.

“Don’t forget the bug spray,” his dad said seriously, and Keith rolled his eyes good naturedly before making his way to the mudroom. Just like in their old house, there was a pack of water bottles sitting on the ground, and a basket on a shelf held the bug spray.

Thankful for his father’s hint that the treehouse was in the woods, Keith sprinted out of the house, breathlessly informing Lance that he was on his way. Thankfully, children weren’t quite as stealthy as they thought they were, and the tree house that was probably supposed to be a secret hideout was actually right along a well-worn trail, built securely among the lower branches of a towering tree.

When Keith climbed the ladder and entered through the trap door, it was to find Lance sitting against the far wall, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He looked up at Keith when he got there, a mixture of relieved and mournful.

“Took you long enough,” he said bitterly. “Did you get lost?”

“No,” Keith scoffed, crossing the wooden floor to plop down in front of Lance. “What was the emergency?”

And then Lance’s lips immediately formed into a pout. His eyes slid downward, his shoulders slumping forward.

“It’s bad news,” he informed Keith, his voice wobbly.

“What kind of bad news?” Keith pressed.

Lance sucked in a breath. Let it back out slowly. “My dad got a new job,” he whispered.

Keith sat there, not understanding.

And then Lance looked up, tears filling his eyes. When he blinked, twin streaks raced down his face. “And now we—we’re _moving_ ,” he sobbed, burying his face in his knees as his shoulders shook with his sobs.

“Oh, Lance…” Keith said, quickly scooting to sit beside him. He wasn’t good at this comforting stuff, not like Lance was, but he did his best anyway. He wrapped his arm around his friend’s shoulders and held him tight, pulling on him until Lance spun so that they could hug. “It’s going to be okay,” Keith assured him.

“No it’s _not_!” Lance cried. “I-I’m gonna have to go to a new s-school, and I’ll have _no_  friends! And all my friends here are gonna forget about me, and our walkie-talkies won’t work anymore ‘cause I’ll be too far!”

Keith ran his fingers through Lance’s hair. It was much longer than he wore it these days, and Keith felt oddly warm inside at the image of a ten-year-old Lance vehemently refusing to go and get his hair cut.

“That’s not true,” Keith argued with him. “You’re so funny and nice — you’re gonna make friends right away,” he promised. “And we can make emails! We’ll talk to each other all the time, you’ll see! I could never forget about you.”

Lance sniffed. “I’m a slow typer.”

“You’ll get faster,” he promised.

“I’m always the one that asks you to hang out,” Lance whispered. “I always knock on _your_  door. I’m the one that always has to remind you to keep your walkie-talkie on.” Keith was silent, just listening as Lance talked. He sniffed loudly, pulling away from Keith to look at him with tear-ridden eyes. “Even with an email, you could forget about me. What if you log out and I can’t just knock on your door to remind you to log in again?”

“Lance,” Keith said seriously, heartbroken at the thought that Lance could think this in any universe. “I won’t forget you. And I won’t log out. And even if I did, you could call my house and remind me! And I’m sure our parents will let us visit each other.”

“It’s far,” Lance said, his lip quivering. “We’re gonna have to take a _plane_.”

“Then I’ll become a pilot,” Keith declared. “I’ll buy a plane and visit you every weekend.”

Lance snorted. “You can’t fly a plane,” he said. “You’re just a kid!”

“Watch me,” Keith declared, and Lance rolled his eyes, finally smiling again. Frustrated with himself, he scrubbed his fists across his face, wiping away his tears.

“You really won’t forget about me?” Lance asked weakly.

“Want me to prove it?” Keith asked.

Lance frowned. “How?”

“Grown-ups are always talking about their first kisses, right?” Keith said.

“Right…” Lance said slowly.

“So it’s impossible to forget them, right?”

“I… guess so, yeah,” Lance said, nodding.

“So then let’s kiss each other,” Keith declared. “We’ll never be able to forget each other, that way.”

Lance’s face erupted into a grin. “You’re right!” he cheered.

“I’m always right,” Keith said, but Lance just scoffed. And then, in a very child-like manner, they got ready to kiss. They both stood up, and shook hands first, obviously, because they were men (or so Lance said).

Lance was the one to lean in first, and he kept his eyes wide open, so Keith followed his lead, not wanting to seem like he was actually experienced. They got really close, the both of them just hovering in front of each other, and Keith noticed that Lance’s cheeks were all puffed up. He was probably holding his breath, the loser.

Deciding that this had gone on long enough, Keith finished it. He leaned in the rest of the way, letting his lips press against Lance’s for a second or two, and pulled back again, the kiss having been totally chaste. The kind you’d give your grandma.

Except Lance was red. He seemed completely flustered, but he was also grinning wildly, looking excited.

“We just kissed,” he announced.

“Yep,” Keith said.

Lance stared at him contemplatively. And then, “That means we’re boyfriends,” he informed Keith. “Marco kissed a girl at school and now she’s his girlfriend. So now you’re my boyfriend.”

It took everything in Keith not to let out a cooing noise. Lance was adorable. “I guess so,” he agreed, and then Lance was grinning.

“Now you _really_  can’t forget me,” he declared. “You can’t forget about your boyfriend!”

And the rest of the day was filled with them doing ‘boyfriend activities.’

_Boyfriends hold hands, Keith._

_Boyfriends drink from the same water bottle, Keith._

_Boyfriends_ have _to play tag when the other one wants to, Keith! It’s the rule!_

In the end, it was a great day full of boyfriend adventures. Mainly, Keith just liked being able to be a kid again. He liked being able to see Lance like this, young and carefree and completely without stress. When the time came, he was counting down from thirty, Lance having convinced him to play hide-and-seek despite there only being two of them.

“Six, five, four…”

And while he did wish he could see his dad one more time, he was still grateful that he’d even been able to see him at all. It wasn’t every day that a horrible situation concocted by an evil queen resulted in something so perfect. And belatedly, Keith realized that if he’d gotten to go home any of those times that he’d wished for it, he never would’ve gotten to see his dad again.

“Three, two, one…”

He had to admit, this reality traversing thing wasn’t all bad. He really had learned a lot from it, after all. Not only had he learned a lot about Lance, but he’d learned a lot about himself, too.

“Ready or not, here I come!”


	20. canon divergence au

_“...and then, I said to her, I said, ‘what do you mean, you don’t know who I am?_ I threw this party _.” Laughter. “You know, somehow you seem like a better audience when you’re asleep. Or is that just because you’re listening to me the same amount either way?”_

A hissing sound.

A blast of cool air.

“Keith!” a chorus of voices exclaimed, and Keith’s eyes snapped open, his jaw dropping as he stumbled out of the healing pod and into the arms of his friends.

“I’m back?” he said incredulously, his heart pounding furiously in his chest as he stood there trying to process it all, barely registering the fact that he was being passed from person to person, each one of them hugging the crap out of him.

“We were so worried about you,” Lance said seriously, and Keith finally tuned all the way in. Everyone’s eyes looked watery, and Lance’s hand was planted on his shoulder. Hadn’t he just been saying something to Keith? Something about a party?

“You were in there for like, a _week_ ,” Hunk added. “We thought you might sleep forever.”

“I’m glad I’m back,” Keith said, disbelief and excitement still swirling throughout him. He was _home_. After all the realities, all the restlessness of waking up in a universe that wasn’t his own time and time again, he was _back_. Back with his team, all smiling and looking relieved and patting him on the back, voicing their happiness at his recovery.

“Come on, team,” Shiro said, smiling serenely. “I’m sure we’re all hungry from waiting around by Keith’s pod. How about some breakfast?”

A chorus of agreement erupted throughout the room before they were all traipsing out of the med bay, Keith falling happily into step with the rest of his team. His stomach growled, something which Lance overheard, making him elbow Keith in the arm. “Sure worked up an appetite in there, huh?”

“You could say that,” Keith joked, eyes running over Lance’s face. He was going to tell him. He was going to tell him about all the other Lances and his feelings for his own Lance — feelings he’d had long before his stint with all the others. It was just a matter of time.

Breakfast was something delicious of Hunk’s creation, and completely unearthly. Keith had been eating earth foods for so long now that it almost felt weird to be eating what he’d grown used to again — but good, too. Good to be back. Good to be with his team.

He couldn’t stop staring at Lance while they all ate, Lance catching him a few times and sending him confused, albeit amused, looks. Keith couldn’t help it. He wanted to tell him.

When the meal was finally finished, Keith tried to hurry out of the room after Lance, but Shiro caught him first, wanting to know that he was truly feeling all right. After doing everything in his ability to assure Shiro that _yes_ , he was _fine_ , he was hurrying down the hall towards his and Lance’s rooms, knocking on Lance’s door without hesitation.

“Come in!” Lance called, and the door slid open before Keith, allowing him entry. Lance was sitting on his bed, one leg planted on the floor below him and the other hidden amongst the sheets. He looked pleasantly surprised to see Keith in his room, but Keith didn’t let himself get overwhelmed. He was going to do this. No backing down. “And to what do I owe this surprise visit?”

Keith swallowed the lump rapidly forming in his throat. “Actually, I… I wanted to tell you something.” Oh God, please, _please_  let that Lance from the soulmate universe be right.

“What’s up?” Lance said. He sounded casual, completely unaware of just what Keith was about to tell him, the tidal wave of truth that might knock him off his feet.

Keith began to pace.

“I just… I wanted to tell you that… Okay, well, I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, actually. But I’d convinced myself that it was stupid, that I should just keep it to myself and not bother you.”

Keith found that he couldn’t really manage to keep his eyes on Lance, instead staring intently at the floor as he paced back and forth over it, counting the tiles and examining the negligible cracks between them. Lance made a humming noise for him to continue.

“Well, uh, due to recent events, I know I have to tell you,” Keith said, finally looking up at Lance. His lips were parted, his eyes wide and vaguely hopeful as he looked in Keith’s direction. Keith heaved a deep breath. “Lance, I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time.”

He watched the emotions flit across Lance’s face — surprise, disbelief, hope, joy — and then Lance was laughing. Not a malicious laugh, but the kind that just couldn’t help but escape when you were overwhelmed with happiness.

“Keith,” he said, grinning so widely that Keith almost found it hard to believe he could still talk. Keith was sweating all over. When had that happened? “I had no clue you felt that way about me,” he said. “I’ve loved you for a long time, too.”

And Keith’s heart soared. It escaped from his chest and rose through the ceiling, through the floors above him, out into space where it could float away from him forevermore. He felt light all over, his body frozen in shock, because somehow, after all this time, he hadn’t fully believed that it might be true. That this could happen to him.

“Help me up,” Lance said, his cheeks pink as he grinned. “I want to kiss you.”

Keith took a step forward, hardly registering why that request was out of the ordinary, and he reached for Lance, grabbing his hands and pulling him forward, until the comforter fell away from him and he was hopping towards Keith.

Hopping.

On his one leg. The other ended abruptly in a stump right before his knee, his pajama pants rolled up and tied right beneath it. He must’ve been wearing a prosthetic earlier, one Keith hadn’t seen beneath his pants. Despite his missing limb, Lance seemed totally at ease. An old injury, then. One he’d had plenty of time to get used to.

The haunting realization crawled through Keith, slowing down time as it moved like sludge through his veins, through his mind. Because this wasn’t his reality. This wasn’t his Lance. And this most certainly wasn’t his love to have.

Even still, he couldn’t ruin this for Lance. For his alternate self.

Heart breaking and soul crushing, Keith reached for Lance, who was still grinning like he’d hung the moon, and pulled him closer, pressing their lips together softly. And then he couldn’t stand it anymore and he was kissing him harder, crushing their lips together and making Lance let out a sound of surprise as he hefted him up, Lance’s arms wrapping around his neck and Keith’s hands latched underneath his thighs, Lance’s one leg securing itself behind Keith’s back.

Lance pulled away for a second, panting, and tilted his head back to breathe. Keith took that opportunity for what it was and laved Lance’s neck with kisses, sucking and biting at the skin as Lance made the most delicate and beautiful noises above him. This could’ve been his Lance. This _should’ve_  been his Lance.

“Keith,” Lance panted, his hand running shakily through Keith’s hair. Keith was still kissing him. “Not that I don’t want to do this, but d’you think we could slow down a bit?”

Revulsion and guilt washed over Keith, slamming into him like a wall. He pulled away immediately, still holding Lance, who was blushing before him.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, hoping Lance couldn’t feel the shaking of his hands beneath his thighs.

“Don’t be,” Lance said, grinning. “I just want to take our time. Also, you picking me up? _So_  hot. I didn’t realize you were that strong.”

“Well, you know,” Keith said casually. “You have a little less body mass than most.”

Lance barked out a surprised laugh, slapping his hand against Keith’s chest before Keith dumped him onto the bed, crawling up after him. He just tucked himself into Lance’s side, though, breathing out slowly as Lance’s hand found its way into his hair.

It wasn’t Lance’s fault that Keith wasn’t really home. He just had to continue to be patient. Besides, the good news was that this had been kind of like a practice run for him, right? Now he could do it even better with his own Lance. Er, no offense to this one.

“I can’t believe you love me,” Lance whispered, sounding giddy. He was looking at Keith.

“I find it even harder to believe you love me,” Keith replied. He wasn’t sure whether Lance would ever know the truth of that.


	21. hanahaki au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo this chapter was supposed to be leakira but i've never been the biggest fan of leakira i'm sorry alskdjfka
> 
> anyway i've never written a hanahaki au before and it seemed fun so voila

_“Lance. Have you eaten today?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Have you eaten?”_

_“…yeah, I think so.”_

The first thing Keith registered was pain. For a split second, he thought his heart was hurting at the idea of Lance sitting there in front of his pod, so worried that he wasn’t even eating. But then he realized that it wasn’t his heart that was hurting, but his _lungs_. He was lying in a bed, but even when he sat up, the feeling didn’t get any better. It was a physical effort just to draw in a breath, and Keith found himself fisting his hands in the sheets beside him.

Was he asthmatic in this universe? What would happen to him if he died while in one of these other realities? Would he continue on, or would he be lost forever?

 _Was_  this even an asthma attack? It wasn’t like he was gasping desperately for breath, he just couldn’t seem to breath all the way in. His breaths were shallow for fear of the pain in his lungs and the constricting in his chest. Trying to test whether he could even breathe more deeply than he had been, Keith began to suck in a large breath, only to be immediately overcome with a hacking cough.

It shook his entire body, fire igniting within his lungs and burning up his throat as he double over himself, choking into his hands as he struggled to regain the ability to breathe at all. Even those shallow breaths had been better than this.

When Keith finally obtained his composure, his hands fell away from his mouth to rest back in his lap, but the movement was halted out of confusion. Keith lifted his hands up, closer to his face, and examined what he now appeared to be holding.

Several blue petals were scattered in his hands, wet with saliva, seeing as they’d apparently escaped from his mouth. Amongst them was an actual flower, stem and all, looking beautiful and unassuming in his palm despite having just come out of his body. What the hell was happening to him? Had he decided to eat a garden or something?

Perhaps most importantly, where was Lance?

In whatever universe this was, Keith appeared to live alone. His bedroom door was open, anyway, and he couldn’t imagine doing that in an apartment that he shared. He tried to get out of bed, thinking he’d grab something to eat or maybe look outside or try to find his cell phone, but this idea immediately proved futile. He’d barely pushed himself up from the bed when his legs started shaking like crazy, threatening to give out. Even worse, breathing grew ten times more difficult, and Keith collapsed back onto the bed, not wanting to asphyxiate.

His hands landed on either side of him, one on the comforters and the other sliding under his pillows. His fingers knocked against something hard.

Curious, Keith grabbed it and pulled it into view, squinting at what was just a normal-looking, black journal. He flicked it open. On the first page was a short entry.

**_8/2/xx_ **

_I’m starting at Altea University today. Shiro gave me this journal. Said his therapist says it’s good for you. I thought Shiro getting a therapist to deal with his PTSD would be a good thing, but really it’s just turned him into a pseudo-therapist himself. I think he likes to pretend I’m his patient._

_Whatever. I’m just writing here so I can say I did it._

Keith flicked to the next page.

**_10/15/xx_ **

_College sucks. Half my professors are jokes and the other half think they’re more important than they are. And I don’t think any of my friends are actually my friends. All the cute boys here are infuriating, too._

_Looking at you, Lance McClain._

Keith flicked through a few more pages. They were all months apart, spanning two whole years. Eventually, he stopped complaining about his professors and started mentioning which classes he liked, what material he was interested in. He stopped thinking his friends didn’t really like him and started mentioning them more often, and Keith wasn’t at all surprised to see it was his same friends from his own universe. Plus, he stopped complaining about Lance all the time. Usually, any mention of him was something funny he’d said or something surprisingly nice that he’d done.

But then, two years after the first entry, was the shortest entry yet.

**_1/7/xx_ **

_I have the Hanahaki disease. I’m going to die._

Keith felt goosebumps creep up along his arms when he read those words. And despite the abundance of entries after this one, it wasn’t because he was wrong, wasn’t because he’d lived a few more years. No, it was because he’d started writing more often. A glance at the dates in the corners revealed that. Showed that it had only been a few weeks since that entry. Not even a month.

**_1/9/xx_ **

_I’m not going to tell Shiro. I know what he’d say. He’d want me to talk to Lance, to tell him I love him. He’d say maybe my love isn’t really unrequited. Except he’d be wrong, and we all know that Lance is too nice for his own good, so he’d try his best to fall in love with me. I can’t ruin Lance’s life and take away his shot at real love just because I don’t want to die. He deserves more than that._

_He deserves more than me._

_And if I told Shiro all that, he’d tell me to get the surgery. To go and get the seeds in my lungs removed. But then I’d forget about Lance forever, and I think that even if I couldn’t remember why, the absence of him would kill me. I’d rather die knowing who I’m in love with than wondering just who it had been, and why their absence aches so much._

**_1/10/xx_ **

_The petals are blue. Why am I not surprised?_

**_1/11/xx_ **

_Breathing hurts these days. I can feel them in my lungs every time I inhale. And I keep coughing, too. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go to class much longer. No one knows, and I don’t want them to._

Keith started flicking through the pages faster.

_**1/15/xx** _

_Shiro found out. I couldn’t get out of bed today and I coughed up blood and fell back asleep. Shiro came over because he was supposed to drive me today anyway, and he saw the petals all over my bed. He cried and yelled at me but I wouldn’t go to the doctor with him. I know what they’d tell me to do._

_I lied to him, though. Said I’d already been. That I was on medication to slow down the process._

_Medication like that doesn’t actually exist. Hanahaki’s extremely rare; almost no medical professionals have wasted their time doing studies on it._

_Shiro thinks I still have months to change my mind._

_**1/20/xx** _

_I can barely get out of bed. I haven’t seen anyone in days. Haven’t seen Lance in far too long. I don’t think any of them know what’s happening, because I begged Shiro not to tell, but you can never really know with him._

_I miss Lance._

_**1/23/xx** _

_I’m tired of being in pain. I think I’ve been hurting for longer than I’ve had Hanahaki. I think I’m ready to go._

The next pages were blank. Keith was panicking, and he wanted to think that his difficulty breathing was due to that, but he knew better now. There were plants in his lungs, born out of unrequited love.

Or _assumed_  unrequited love, he thought with a scoff. He had no doubts that the Lance in this universe loved him. But he had to prove that to the Keith that actually belonged here.

He looked all around him, at the bedside table and in the sheets and on the nearby floor, but when he finally found his cell phone, it was located under his pillows as well. Keith collapsed back against them with a wheeze, his fingers clenched in the material of his shirt, his breathing labored.

Keith already had a message waiting from Lance. He clicked onto their conversation and couldn’t help reading some of it.

 **Tuesday 1/20**  
**[11:43] Lance**  
dude, have you gone to class at all this week?  
you haven’t had lunch with us in days :(((  
i KNEW it was a mistake letting u live on ur own!!!

 **[12:08] Keith**  
yeah i’ve gone to classes, i’ve just gone straight home after  
sorry  
guess i’ve been in a funk

 **[12:10] Lance**  
noooo not a funk :((((((  
you gotta let me join u for a cheer up session soon  
you, me, a carton of ice cream, and a fantastic selection of cheer up movies  
mayhaps…. mama mia?!?!?!?!

 **[12:11] Keith**  
sure, whatever you say lance  
maybe this weekend?

 **[12:11] Lance**  
B THERE OR B SQUARE!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 **Friday 1/23**  
**[15:23] Keith**  
i’m sorry lance i think i’m gonna have to cancel  
i don’t feel too well

 **[15:25] Lance**  
WHAT  
that’s what the cheer up session is for!!!

 **[15:26] Keith**  
no like i feel sick  
i have the flu  
i’m sorry

 **[12:28] Lance**  
dude that fucking sucks  
I’M sorry  
i really hope you feel better soon  
text me if you need anything!!!

 

 

 **Today  
** [09:44] Lance  
hewwo wonderful friend o’ mine  
i HAPPEN to be in the area and HAPPEN to have chicken noodle soup  
if you happen to be awake, that is

Keith felt his heart melt as he read the texts that had come in just a few minutes ago. Keith must not have heard the vibration from his phone, having been busy reading his journal.

How could the Keith of this universe not realize that Lance was in love with him too? It was entirely too obvious.

 **[09:52] Keith**  
i’m awake  
please bring the soup  
and hurry  
also i literally can’t get out of bed you’ll have to break in

Not ten minutes later, Keith could hear the front door opening. It sounded like Lance was breaking in with a spare key. Go figure.

He appeared in the doorway seconds later, a smile on his face and a thermos in his hands. But then his expression was replaced with one full of worry.

“Holy shit, Keith!” he said, rushing forward. He pressed his hand against Keith’s forehead. “You look horrible, are you alright?”

“No,” Keith said, trying and failing to speak for the first time. His voice was incredibly raspy and barely audible.

“Dude, I don’t think this is a fever,” Lance said, looking wide-eyed and panicked. “I need to get you to the hospital.”

“No,” he repeated himself. Lance looked stricken.

“Keith—”

Keith held up a finger, silencing him. “It’s Hanahaki,” he said, and then Lance looked horror-struck.

“What?” he whispered. “Keith, _who_?”

Keith just smiled, staring steadily at Lance. He grabbed Lance’s hand, struggling to draw in a breath. “Who do you think?” he asked, managing a smile.

Lance’s eyes welled up with tears. “You idiot,” he whispered, gasping in a breath as the tears suddenly spilled down his face. “You _idiot_ ,” he repeated himself. “How could you possibly think I’m not in love with you?”

Keith laughed, relieved and light. Somehow, each and every time it was just as exciting, hearing Lance say that.

With Keith’s next breath, he was able to breathe in a little bit deeper, and as Lance pressed his lips to the back of Keith’s hand, he gasped in a breath which didn’t hurt. Strength seemed to come back to his body, much like the air in his lungs, which were no longer filled with flora.

Lance clambered up onto his bed with him, uninvited. He tugged Keith into his arms, his body shaking with barely held back sobs.

“I’ve loved you for so long,” he said, his voice thick and watery.

“I love you too,” Keith laughed.

Lance sniffed loudly. He was pouting. “I’ll tell you every day if I have to,” he muttered. “Maybe then you’ll never do something this stupid again.”

Keith intertwined their fingers, bringing Lance’s knuckles up to his lips.

 _You’re welcome,_  Keith thought at his alternate self. That bastard would’ve died if it hadn’t been for Keith. He wondered if he had ever acted so dumb.

 _A mental shrug._  Probably.


	22. cowboys au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter was supposed to be a crossover but idk what that MEANS. like wasn't the hogwarts chapter a crossover??? and the others in pre-established universes????
> 
> anyway back on the pirates chapter sailormew4 mentioned cowboys and i ran with that asdlfkajdfl
> 
> enjoy!

_“I’m back, and I’ve brought books! Romance, action, sci-fi… I bet you’re a sci-fi kind of guy, aren’t you?”_

_Wrong_ , Keith thought. Not that he would correct Lance even if he were there.

But he wasn’t there. He was…

Keith opened his eyes. Felt his hands tighten around reins. Realized very abruptly that he didn’t know how to ride a horse and was afraid of falling off and being trampled to death.

In his fear, his legs squeezed his legs around the horse he was riding on, desperate to not fall off, but for some reason that made the horse speed up. Keith’s hands were sweaty where they gripped the reins, his body bouncing as the horse galloped.

“Oh, no you don’t!” a voice called, and when Keith whipped his head over his shoulder, he found Lance situated atop a horse of his own, leaning low as he chased after Keith. He had a cowboy hat on his head. “This is the last time you trespass in my territory, Kogane!”

 _Great_ , Keith thought bitterly. Even Lance wasn’t on his side. Not yet, anyway.

Another glance over his shoulder proved that Lance was gaining on him, glaring fiercely. He had guns holstered to his hips. He wouldn’t use them, right?

Instinct took over. Fear that Lance would catch him or that he’d manage to fall off his horse somehow propelled Keith into hiding. Instead of continuing throughout the open fields they were riding through, Keith yanked his horse’s reins, somehow managing to steer it to the left and towards a small town. Lance yelled something from behind him but he went ignored, Keith only concentrating on getting away.

Townspeople yelped and jumped out of the way as Keith thundered down the small, dirt-packed streets, the sound of Lance’s horse’s hooves not too far behind him. Keith’s horse seemed used to the chase, however, and at the barest tug of its reins it went rocketing down different side streets, more nimble than Keith would’ve guessed it was able to be.

Somehow, between one street and the next, they managed to lose Lance. His horse had slowed down, maybe because he was no longer squeezing it to death with his legs, and he took the chance to slide off of it, patting the side of its neck once he was on his own two feet, his thighs aching a bit. Nearby, there was a fence with a bunch of horses tied up before it, indulging in hay and water laid out before them.

Glancing carefully around, still sure that Lance was nowhere to be seen, Keith tied his own horse up amongst the others, hoping he’d be able to recognize it when he came back. Or, even better, if the Keith that came back was the Keith that wasn’t him.

Sure that his horse was safe, Keith slipped back between the safety of the buildings, trying to catalogue the situation. Apparently, he was trespassing in Lance’s territory, if what Lance had been shouting at him was the truth. He, too, had a pair of guns strapped to his hips, though he had no real idea how to use them. His boots clinked when he stepped, due to spurs attached to the back of them, and the sun was hot and beating down on him, kept off his face only by the brim of his hat.

With a sigh, Keith drew the conclusion he’d been trying not to draw. In this universe, for whatever reason, he and Lance were cowboys.

Keith came to the abrupt realization that he didn’t even know what cowboys _did_. Other than have big hats and boots and guns and horses. All of which… he apparently had.

He leaned back into the alley he’d been leaning out of, having peered around to make sure he was still safe. That’s when he heard a distinctive _click_. He froze.

“Gotcha,” said a voice from behind him, and Keith slowly turned around.

Except it wasn’t Lance standing there. It was some other sort of cowboy with a gun, grinning almost ferally as he stared Keith down, gun cocked and aimed at Keith’s head. Slowly, Keith raised his hands in surrender.

“Any last words?” the cowboy said threateningly, just as someone stepped out into the alley behind him. It was Lance. He glanced to the side, apparently not expecting to actually see anyone here, and stumbled to a silent stop, his eyes widening. Keith eyed him helplessly.

“Give me a minute to think?” Keith joked, and the cowboy sneered.

“You’ve had enough time to think,” he said, just as Lance raised his gun from behind him. There was a bang, and Keith flinched, for half a second thinking he must’ve been shot, until the man in front of him fell to the ground, Lance’s gun smoking in the distance. The tension drained out of Keith, his shoulders slumping in.

To his surprise, no one came running at the sound of a gun. Then again, this _was_  a time of lawlessness. He swallowed.

“You saved my life,” Keith murmured, stepping further into the alley. Lance shrugged.

“You’re _my_  arch nemesis,” he said nonchalantly. “I wasn’t about to let some other guy kill you before I could.” Despite his words, his gun was lowered, and he looked nowhere near murderous towards Keith.

Keith cleared his throat. “You wanna get a drink?”

Lance’s eyebrows raised in surprise. And then he shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “But just in case you’re thinking of getting me drunk so that you can kill me, I’ll have you know I hold my liquor _extremely_  well.”

\--

“And—and _then_  I realized,” Lance said, his face flushed and his entire demeanor giggly. He was leaning heavily into Keith, close to falling off his own barstool. “It wasn’t even _my_  house!”

Keith laughed, partially because it was a pretty funny story, and partially because Lance was adorable like this. He realized he’d never actually seen him drunk before.

“You know,” Lance continued easily. “You’re a pretty good guy, Kogane. Kinda sucks that I hate your guts so much.”

“You don’t hate my guts,” Keith said. His hand had come up to Lance’s back at some point, and now he was rubbing it. These barstools didn’t have backs, and he felt like if he dropped his hand he’d essentially be dropping Lance. He was entirely too unsteady in his seat.

“Says who?” Lance scoffed, now leaning an elbow on the bar before them and staring imploringly up at Keith, who could hold his liquor much better than Lance could and was still sitting upright.

“Says me,” Keith said boldly. “I mean, you saved my life today.”

“Yeah, just so I can kill you later!” Lance declared, very unbelievably.

“Sure,” Keith said placatingly, staring at Lance as he began to sway in his seat alarmingly. “You said you booked a room in this tavern, right? Let me walk you up to it.”

Lance agreed, letting Keith wrap an arm around his waist and help him up. He leaned against Keith heavily, babbling in his ear the entire time they climbed the stairs, the key to Lance’s room held firmly in Keith’s hand.

He let them both into the room, leading Lance to the bed and helping him take off his shoes. Lance propped himself up onto his elbows. “Did you…” he said slowly, his eyebrows drawn inward in concern. “Did you bring me up here… to seduce me?”

Keith snorted. “You’re drunk,” he said. “I don’t need you to be drunk to seduce you.”

Lance scoffed. “You definitely do,” he said tauntingly, his eyes sliding shut as he leaned back against the pillows. “S’only way you could.”

“How about we make a deal, then,” Keith said, and he kicked off his own shoes and climbed into the bed for good measure. He had no idea whether his alternate self had gotten a room of his own, someplace.

“You’re in my bed,” Lance pointed out, peeking at him with one eye. Keith ignored him.

“You’ll stop trying to kill me, and we’ll become partners. We’ll work together. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can seduce you when you’re sober.”

“Ha!” Lance said, before turning his face into the pillow. “You’re on. Get ready to fail.” This last part was mumbled completely into the bedding, Lance clearly on the verge of sleep.

“We’ll see,” Keith said lightly, and he folded his arms behind his head as he got comfortable. It wouldn’t be long now.


	23. high school au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short and sweet!!! y'all better not call this chapter angsty bc it's fluffy as FUCK

_“Think we should wake him up?” someone whispered. It sounded like Hunk._

_“You kidding? This is perfect blackmail material,” said Pidge._

Keith wanted to ruminate over that exchange — was Lance sleeping in front of his pod? — but there was no time.

He felt it was pretty understandable for him to assume that he was well acquainted with reality travel by now. He kind of felt like he had this whole thing in the bag, having been to so many places and dealt with so many things. Many of which had prepared him for an innumerable amount of situations that he would probably never have to face in his real life, honestly. Which was why he probably shouldn’t be panicking so severely right now.

Except he was.

The first thing Keith registered was that his vision was partially obscured, black bars running across his line of sight. And then he realized that there was something in his mouth, rubbery and secured between his teeth. And his clothes were _heavy_. And it was nighttime, and lights were glaring all around the field he found himself on, and a crowd was cheering...?

And then, of course, Keith managed to actually look around him. Managed to take in all the people in uniforms, ones likely matching his own. Big shoulder pads, tight white pants, industrial-sized helmets.

Football uniforms.

Oh no. How did this somehow feel worse than finding himself on a stage in front of thousands of people?

“Go!” someone yelled, shoving Keith in the back, and he started running, because what the fuck else was he supposed to do? He didn’t know why he was running, though. Other people were running around him, some wearing the same colors as his own jersey and some wearing the opposite. His teammates were cutting off their rivaling team, giving Keith a straight shot to the end zone. But where was the football?

And that thought came crashing through his head like an asteroid. Because he didn’t know a lot about sports. He’d never been one to want to sit down and yell at a screen full or people playing a game that he didn’t really understand nor know the rules of. If he _had_  to pick a sport to play, it’d probably be basketball, because that’s the one that was cheapest. Throughout all the foster homes he’d been in, there’d almost always been a basketball around. Kids were willing to turn anything into a basketball court, using stuff like trash cans as the actual baskets.

So yeah, maybe if he found himself on a court he’d feel a little more comfortable. But this wasn’t a court, it was a field, surrounded with screaming fans and cheerleaders chanting somewhere in the distance. And Keith’s instincts told him that somewhere on this colossal field, there was a ball. And knowing his luck with all the universes he’d been to, he was probably going to have to touch it.

Keith spun around, looking, and realized a split second before it hit him in the fact that — _there_. There was the ball.

His arms flew up automatically, his hands somehow managed to fumble the ball into a hold against his chest instead of just knocking it away from his face and towards the ground, and then everyone was screaming even louder. People were racing towards Keith, their hulking bodies looking about ready to pummel him to the ground, so he turned tail and ran, his years of training and running from various threats out in space having helped to prepare him for something like this — at least mentally.

And then he ran over the last field line and the people in the stands jumped to their feet. The opposing team members stopped racing towards him, but those wearing the same jersey as him continued without stopping, making Keith clutch the ball a bit tighter in fear as they suddenly barreled into him. Between one moment and the next, he was up in the air, held aloft by their arms, and a giddy laugh escaped him without permission.

Now that he wasn’t running, and thanks to his new vantage point, he could take in the situation a bit better. Whistles were blowing, signaling the end of the game, which Keith was assured of by the fact that people from the stands were racing onto the field, screaming. The men below Keith were chanting and yelling, the cool breeze from the night invading through the front of his helmet. The lights surrounding the field were blinding, about a million bugs flickering around them, and Keith was still being gently tossed up and down by his teammates. Across the field, the scoreboard read _LIONS WIN_  in blinking letters, the numbers below them showing off the fact that it’d been by a close margin. Presumably, Keith’s little stunt with the football and the running had won them the game.

Suddenly, a more cohesive-sounding cheer was rising above the cacophony of sounds. The cheerleaders had made their way onto the field, same as everyone else, but they were all formed up again.

“Extra, extra, read all about it!” they shouted, their voices rising above everyone else’s. “The Lions won — let’s scream and shout it!”

Suddenly, the three clusters of cheerleaders were thrusting people into the air. On either side, a girl in a short skirt with a tight ponytail, one leg secured in the fists of their teammates and the other held up by their head. Standing in the middle, also held up into the air, was Lance. His feet were still together, both his hands raised above his head and shaking pom-poms.

“Extra, extra, read all about it!” they chanted again, now bouncing the three airborne cheerleaders. “The Lions won — let’s scream and shout it!” With that, they lowered the cheerleaders — and then flung them into the air. Keith had no idea what the girls did because he only had eyes for Lance. At the peak of his toss, his legs spread out wide, his ankles meeting his hands and remaining clutched there for a split second before he was sinking back through the air, his body pulled tight and uniform once again to be smoothly caught and propped upright by his teammates.

Keith’s mouth felt dry.

And finally, he was set back on the ground himself, smiling and accepting claps on the back from his teammates, but he was quick to make his way towards Lance, now that the cheerleaders seemed to be done with their routine.

“Keith,” Lance said, sounding surprised, when he saw Keith before him.

“You did a split in the air,” Keith said, still a little bit star struck. Lance rolled his eyes.

“And you got the winning touchdown,” he said, looking amused. “Good job, by the way.”

“Have I ever told you how much I like your uniform?” Keith blurted. He couldn’t help it. It was red and white and _tight_ , his pants almost looking like a pair of leggings, with the way they were showing off his legs.

Lance laughed. “God, I wish I could kiss you right now,” he murmured.

“So why don’t you?” Keith returned. Lance’s eyes widened.

“What, right now? In front of everyone?” he said, his voice lowered even more. Keith shrugged nonchalantly.

“Sounds good to me,” he claimed.

“Who are you and what have you done with Keith,” Lance joked, his eyes twinkling. “You swear you won’t hate me if I do this?”

“I could never,” Keith claimed. And before Lance could hesitate anymore, he kissed him himself. He just stepped forward, grabbed the sides of Lance’s face — suspiciously warm — and yanked him forward until their lips were touching, wet and hot in the chilly evening night.

If it was possible, the cheering got any louder. Before he knew it, Keith was in the air again, thrown up there by the cheerleaders, of all people. His own teammates had done the same to Lance, whose hand had found its way into his own at some point in the commotion.

Lance grinned at him, his face red and his eyes gleaming, and Keith just threw his head back and laughed. Above them, the stars were sparkling fiercely, somehow managing to break through the light pollution that the stadium lights provided. Keith pulled Lance’s hand towards his face, pressing a kiss against his knuckles and imagining that his own Lance might feel it too, where he lay sleeping in front of his healing pod.


	24. tv show au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasn't sure what tv show to do but then i realized i didn't feel done with supernatural elements so,,,
> 
> ghost hunters
> 
> (i've never seen ghost hunters. this is entirely based off buzzfeed unsolved)

_Humming._

Keith was smiling when he came to, the sound of Lance humming still dancing through his mind.

And then he registered the hands cinched around his arm, and when he opened his eyes — cameras. It was dark, but he could see several people holding cameras and following after them. Both he and Lance had some sort of light strapped to their heads, and Keith was holding odd equipment in his hands.

Okay, so what the fuck was happening?

Down the hall, an old door creaked, probably the result of the house settling or maybe the airways in this hallway being disrupted, but Lance’s fingers dug into Keith’s arm even more painfully as he let out a whispered scream.

“Oh my God, she’s _here_!” he whispered, gaping down the hall. Keith squinted, barely about to make out what was down there. Were these lights really all they had?

Lance turned to the cameras. “If this is our last episode of Ghost Hunters, I think you’ll know why. Keith? Any last words?”

Keith scoffed. Were they seriously ghost hunters? Ghosts weren’t even real! “This isn’t going to be our last episode,” Keith deadpanned.

Lance let go of him in order to straighten up, gaping at him indignantly. “Um, _hello?_  This house has been _by far_  the creepiest we’ve ever investigated. You’re seriously telling me you still don’t believe in ghosts?”

Keith shrugged. “Aliens, I could believe,” he said. An inside joke, between him and the universe, since Lance didn’t actually have any clue what he was talking about or why it was funny. “But ghosts?”

Lance groaned. “One day you’re gonna get possessed and you’ll see. _We’ll all see!_ ”

“Sure, Lance,” Keith said placatingly. “Do you want me to walk down the hallway first?”

“Obviously,” Lance said, pushing him in front. His hands were fisted in the back of Keith’s shirt, shoving him not-so-gently forward. For someone who apparently thought there was a murderous ghost at the end of the hallway, he clearly didn’t mind sacrificing Keith very much.

Keith stepped into the room first. The door let out a dreadful screech as he pushed it open on rusty hinges, Lance gasping and clinging to him harder. They stepped into the room on creaking floorboards before coming to a stop directly in the middle. Lance flicked fearful eyes around before turning towards one of the cameras, presumably filming with night vision.

“Here we stand in what was Isabelle’s childhood bedroom. The last place she was ever seen before she disappeared,” he intoned, his voice having dropped low. Keith scanned the room with Lance’s new information in mind. It definitely explained the children’s furniture and toys all throughout the room, which made it considerably less scary, in Keith’s mind.

On a dresser across the room sat a doll, propped upright and facing him and Lance directly. The flashlight from Keith’s headgear gleamed in her eyes particularly spookily.

Beside him, Lance continued. “It’s been said that people have encountered Isabelle’s presence in this room in the form of chills, whispers, and even scratches,” Lance finished dramatically.

Keith turned to him, an eyebrow raised. “Why were they here?”

“What?” Lance said.

“The people that encountered her. This is private property, right? Were they trespassing?”

Lance was gaping at him. “I don’t know, probably!”

“I feel like Isabelle isn’t really in the wrong, then.”

“Okay, _one_ , are you finally admitting that ghosts are real? And _two_ , you do realize _we_  are now the ones trespassing, right?”

Keith frowned. He’d just been making an observation. “Ghosts aren’t real,” he affirmed, to which Lance groaned and then yanked a device out of Keith’s hand.

Suddenly, one of the cameramen spoke. “Don’t forget we need some solid proof if you guys want to be renewed for another season.”

Lance glowered. “We can’t _create_  proof,” he scoffed. “That’d be lying to our viewers.”

“Just saying, the offer still stands,” the cameraman shrugged. “I could get Jason to go upstairs and slam on the floorboards or something.”

“We’re not doing that,” Lance fumed, looking genuinely upset. So he really believed in this stuff, huh? He’d probably be disappointed if their show got cancelled. Was that Keith’s problem? And if so, how the hell was he supposed to provide proof that ghosts were real?

Lance slipped right back into host-mode. “What we have here is a spirit box,” he said, wiggling the device before the camera pointedly. “It manipulates radio waves, making it unlikely that we’d hear any actual words unless a spirit was manipulating those waves themselves. Ready?” he said this last part to Keith, who nodded. He was still staring at the doll.

Lance powered on the machine, a loud, horrendous noise escaping it, making Keith jerk. He stared at the thing with wide eyes, his heart beating in his chest. When he looked back over at the dresser, the doll was gone.

His breath escaped him.

“Lance,” he said, voice thin.

“Shh, trying to listen,” Lance murmured. “Do you have anything you want to say to us, Isabelle? Are you here?”

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith tried again, pointing across the room. “Where’d the doll go?”

Lance whipped around, the camera following him, while Keith spun in place, trying to find where it might’ve gone. What if, in this universe, ghosts _were_  real? Keith felt goosebumps all over, and that was before the spirit box started talking to him.

It was a load of garbled nonsense, at first. Something close to static, loud and abrasive. But then, clear as day: “ _Keith_.”

Keith and Lance jumped, Lance spinning away from the dresser to look at Keith. “Holy shit, dude!” he said.

“Language,” one of the cameramen warned.

“It said your name!” Lance continued, unconcerned. He looked both ecstatic and terrified. Keith was frozen still. “Why did you say Keith’s name?” Lance asked the room at large. “What do you want with him?”

“Woah, woah, woah, we’re not _offering_  me,” Keith butt in.

 _“Keith,”_ the spirit box said again, intermixed with the harsh sound of static. _“Why… are… you… still… here?”_

Keith and Lance were gaping at each other. “It’s never said that much at once before,” Lance whispered, stepping closer to the machine. “What does it mean? Where else would you be?”

“I don’t know,” Keith lied. Could the queen be influencing this outcome? Or was it truly a spirit?

_“Will… you… ever… go… home?”_

A breath shuddered out of him. _Y_ _es_. Of course he was going to go home. It just wasn’t up to him! It was the stupid queen, keeping him here, shunting him between realities and no doubt deriving amusement from his suffering. What the hell was her problem?

“That’s fucking creepy,” Lance muttered.

The box was silent now, and Keith reached over and turned it off before it could grate on his ears even more. “I hated that,” he informed him.

“Believe in ghosts now?” Lance joked, and Keith rolled his eyes. It was as he did so that he noticed the doll back on the dresser, as if it had never moved at all. Lance noticed the look on his face and turned around, only to let out a shriek at what he saw. “I’m out of here!” he screeched, although he at least had the decency to grab Keith’s hand and yank him after him as he ran away.

They pounded down rickety stairs, shoving open creaking doors, the whole crew following after them until they came to a stop in the living room, Lance bent down over his knees as he struggled to breathe. When he stood back up, he looked directly into a camera. “Look, if you cancel this show, we’ll probably live longer,” he announced. “So I’m not really complaining.”

Keith laughed at Lance’s joke, but his mind was really elsewhere. Stuck on that spirit box. On what it had meant.

Why taunt him that way, when going home was all he wanted? Goosebumps invaded his arms as he remembered that voice. _Will you ever go home?_

Keith didn’t want to doubt that he would, that all of this was only temporary, but the words were getting under his skin, igniting past fears. Truly, what would he do if he never got to go home? If this continued forever?

So lost in his thoughts, Keith barely felt the glitch building within him. Briefly, he wondered whether the cameras would catch the instance he disappeared and what it would look like on camera. With all the evidence combined, he had a feeling his and Lance’s show wouldn’t be cancelled anytime soon.

Especially if it looked like he’d been possessed.


	25. percy jackson au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't believe we're getting closer and closer to the end! i hope you guys enjoy today's chapter!!!

_“His readings seem a bit more active, these days.”_

_“Do you think that means he can hear us?”_

_A scoff. “I doubt it.”_

Keith smelled… strawberries. The source of the smell was abundantly clear, because when he opened his eyes, he found himself in an entire field of strawberries. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, glancing around curiously.

“Keith!” someone said, and Keith jerked, twisting around in search of Hunk’s voice. And then he found Hunk — or someone who was _part_  Hunk, and part funky, goat-looking legs — and managed a small smile.

“Hey,” he said, still very much confused.

“You’ve gotta stop sneaking off to nap in the strawberry fields,” Hunk reprimanded gently. His shirt was bright orange, the words _Camp Half Blood_  scrawled across it.

Keith felt his eyes widen. This couldn’t be… _the_  Camp Half Blood? From the Percy Jackson books, Camp Half Blood?

“Sorry,” Keith said.

Hunk laughed. “No you’re not. But I don’t think you’re the only one avoiding Coran’s crazy new training regimen.”

Keith nodded awkwardly, unfortunately unaware of what the hell anyone was talking about, like always. He excused himself, standing up and looking out at the valley before him.

It was unmistakable. It perfectly matched the imagery from the books, from the strawberry fields to the U-shaped cabins to the forest and the lake. All of it was beautiful, kissed by rays of sunlight, and Keith found himself making his way down the sloping hill of the strawberry field to the main area, already looking for Lance.

What godly parent would he have? Poseidon? Keith could see Lance as a Poseidon kid — he loved the ocean, after all.

Keith nearly stumbled to a stop when he realized that _he_  must have a godly parent of his own, too. Who would it be? And how could he figure it out without revealing his alarming lack of knowledge?

The campgrounds were breathtaking. All around, there were other campers, casually utilizing the powers that came naturally to them. Outside the Demeter cabin, kids were growing plants together, decorating the pots that surrounded the cabin’s entrance. And across the way, before the Hephaestus cabin, a bunch of campers were stood around a robot, one that they’d probably built themselves. Keith wasn’t too surprised to see Pidge within their midst, cackling loudly when the robot did as she commanded with the remote.

Before Keith could stand around and wonder any longer as to where Lance might be, the devil himself came waltzing out of a cabin. Number 10. Aphrodite.

It made a stupid amount of sense, that Lance would be an Aphrodite kid. Ridiculously flirtatious and suave. Obsessed with love and all things romantic. Unbelievably beautiful in absolutely every universe.

A collective sigh seemed to escape many in the courtyard as Lance emerged from his cabin. He was wearing short shorts, his long, dark legs bare and smooth-looking. Even from here, Keith could tell that he was wearing some sort of makeup, if the way that his eyes were popping was any indication. His hair was styled to perfection, his eyes scanning the grounds before him, looking almost bored, before they locked onto Keith.

Oh, hell. Was Lance some kind of popular kid here? The Aphrodite kids were _always_  popular. And who was Keith’s godly parent? Was he even anywhere near Lance’s league? This universe was going to be horrendously difficult, he could already tell. Just the thought of trying to win Lance’s affections — beautiful, irresistible, unattainable Lance — had his heart sinking through his stomach. He had a feeling he was going to be stuck here for a while.

And then Lance’s face broke into a grin, and he waved his hand above his head. Despite his poise, he had the same loud voice as always. “Keith!” he yelled, already jogging towards him.

 _No way_ , Keith thought. Had he seriously already wooed Lance?

Up close, Keith could see Lance’s makeup for real. His lashes were long and his eyes outlined in black. His eyelids glimmered when he blinked, decorated with a bronze sheen that blended in well with his skin. And somehow, that beautiful face was staring at Keith like _he_  was the one that was a sight for sore eyes.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Lance relayed, his hand having already come forward to tangle with Keith’s. It felt familiar and comforting. How strange was that? Keith never held hands with the Lance of his own universe, and yet it was something that was now familiar to him.

“I took a nap in the strawberry fields,” Keith revealed, which made Lance snort.

“Of course you would,” he scoffed. “Anyway, have you heard the big news?”

“What big news?” Keith asked wearily.

“The Hunters are coming today!” Lance revealed, already grinning brightly. “I can’t _wait_  to see Allura again!”

Thanks to the books, Keith knew that the Hunters were actually the Hunters of Artemis. Girls who swore off romantic love and harnessed the powers of the Hunt, thus turned immortal.

“Wonder if we’ll play capture the flag,” Keith said. The books, at least, said it was tradition to play when the Hunters came.

“We better,” Lance said. “This time we’re gonna beat their asses. Even if they’ve had like hundreds of years to become super warriors.”

While the wait for the Hunters was on, it was clear that they weren’t going to be arriving just yet. Lance dragged Keith to the dining hall for lunch with him, where Keith got to experience the magic of announcing what he wanted to eat out loud and having the food appear on his plate. Thankfully, there weren’t many campers around, so Keith didn’t get too many weird stares when he sat at the Aphrodite table with Lance instead of whatever table he was supposed to be sitting at.

Afterwards, Lance said he wanted to go to the lake, but it was really just under the guise to make out. Keith ended up laying on the sand with a lapful of Lance, who was seriously, unfairly, the same amazing kisser in every single universe.

It was while Lance was kissing down his neck, Keith’s head tilted back to give him better access, that the sun suddenly disappeared from the sky.

Keith squinted his eyes open to see what was blocking the light, only to find himself staring up at Allura, who looked a little more ethereal than usual. Kind of glowing around the edges. And smirking in amusement as she stared down at the two of them.

“Allura!” Keith said in surprise, making Lance sit up and squint down at him.

“No, _Lance_ ,” he corrected.

Keith scoffed, kicking him off as he sat up, clearing his throat.

“I _knew_  you two would get together,” Allura said triumphantly, crossing her arms. Lance’s head whipped towards her voice as he gaped in surprise.

“Yeah, only ‘cause I gushed about how cute Keith was to you all the time,” Lance said after regaining his composure, clearly unashamed of announcing that in front of Keith.

“And because I noticed that Keith’s eyes follow you everywhere you go,” Allura said with a shrug. Keith sputtered, embarrassed for something he hadn’t even done.

Lance didn’t even take any time to gloat, though. He just got to his feet, reaching out a hand to help Keith up as well, and then jabbed a finger towards Allura’s chest.

“The Hunters are going _down_ ,” he said threateningly.

And two hours later, with each and every one of Keith’s muscles sore and unforgiving, it was very clear that the Hunters were not ever going down. They’d won by a landslide.

Keith’s shower was pleasant for his aching muscles and made even more pleasant when the curtain suddenly slid open and — instead of being assaulted by a stranger — he was accompanied by Lance. The funny thing was, they didn’t even do anything. Lance rubbed shampoo into Keith’s hair, giving him a mohawk and giggling as he did, and Keith scrubbed body wash across Lance’s chest and shoulders.

It seemed amazing to Keith that the two of them could do something so intimate without it turning sexual.

Afterwards, Lance kissed Keith on the lips and tossed him a towel, and finally they went to rejoin the rest of the campers and Hunters, most of whom were already gathered for dinner. While the majority of the Hunters were sat at the Artemis table, perpetually empty except for when they were visiting, Allura was seated at the Aphrodite table, clearly waiting for Lance. Keith followed him, too, still not knowing which table he was meant to sit at.

Seriously, who was his godly parent? Which cabin would he be expected to return to tonight?

Somehow, Keith got that answer much sooner than he’d been expecting.

Across from Allura and beside Lance, Keith had been enthusiastically shoveling food into his mouth, starving from all the exercise of the day. It was Allura who spoke.

“So, Keith,” she said, pointing her spoon at him. “It’s been nearly a year since I saw you last. Have you been claimed yet?”

And just like that, Keith felt his heart sink. Lance stiffened beside him.

In the books, most campers were claimed within their first few days at Camp Half Blood. A glowing symbol would shine above their head, a sign from their godly parent that that was who they belonged to. Except not everyone got claimed — sometimes their parents were careless or unobservant. Sometimes the gods lost track of them completely, not knowing any better than they did as to who who they belonged to.

Anyone who went unclaimed was shoved into the Hermes cabin, which was likely where Keith stayed.

“No,” Keith said, his voice hard and distant. Of course, he didn’t know for sure, but it was easy enough to guess, especially considering Lance’s reaction. How was it that even in this world, where Keith harbored the blood of gods in his veins, he was an orphan?

Allura smiled sympathetically. Keith lost himself in his thoughts for the rest of the meal, barely registering Lance’s hand coming to rest comfortingly on his knee.

After dinner, many campers split off to do different things. There was a bonfire going, and Keith ended up sticking by Lance and Allura’s sides as they went to participate in the sing-along. Hours passed, more and more campers heading off to bed, and when Lance turned to Keith questioningly, he just pecked him on the lips and bade him goodnight.

He barely noticed when it was just him by the fire, alone and perched on a log, his chin resting heavily against his fist. His back was chilled by the evening air, but his front was thoroughly warmed by the fire.

“You long for something,” said a voice, making Keith jump. When he looked up, sitting before him, just beside the fire, was a little girl.

“Who are you?” Keith blurted.

The girl giggled. “I am Hestia,” she informed him. “Goddess of the hearth.”

“Of home,” Keith concluded. Hestia smiled encouragingly, but Keith couldn’t find it within himself to return it. His insides ached for something which he still did not have.

“I can sense that you are far from home,” Hestia said, staring at Keith with eyes infinitely wiser than his own. Infinitely wiser than the kind that should sit in a little girl’s face.

“I am,” Keith admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been farther.”

“We have a way of finding our way home when we least expect it,” Hestia informed him. “And creating new homes without realizing it.”

“I don’t want to create a new home,” Keith said. “I just want to be in _mine_  again.”

“I suppose you’d resent me for reminding you of patience,” said Hestia, and Keith huffed out a laugh.

“I’ve been told to be patient a lot in my life, yeah,” he said dryly.

“Then be told it once more. I promise, paladin, your journey will not endure for much longer. You’re almost ready.”

Keith shook his head slightly, before jerking upward. “Did you just say paladin?” he demanded, only to realize he was talking to an empty fire. Hestia was gone.

He curled in on himself, letting out a sigh against his knees. Home. To him, that was the castle-ship. It was the people aboard it, the family which he hadn’t been born to, but had chosen. How much longer would it be until he was home again?

Not after this, surely, if he was being told to be patient.

He had a feeling that the Hermes cabin didn’t feel much like a home to the Keith of this universe. He no doubt resented his unclaimed nature as much as Keith himself did — probably more, to be honest, considering he actually lived this life.

The most Keith ever felt at home in these universes was when he was with Lance. Why was that not surprising?

Perhaps also unsurprising was the way Keith stood up and made his way to a cabin that was certainly not his own. The door opened near-silently, and Keith scanned the bunk beds for a familiar face, breathing a sigh of relief once he found it. He crept over carefully and slid into the bed silently, startling Lance awake.

“Keith?” he whispered, sounding incredulous as he scooted over and made room for him.

“Hi,” Keith said as he curled into his chest.

“You’re in my bed,” Lance breathed out, sounding awed. “Holy shit.”

“Is this okay?”

“More than,” Lance said, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him closer. “Are you okay?”

Keith thought about it. “Yeah,” he decided, pressing a kiss to Lance’s collarbone. With Lance, he was definitely okay. He just hoped his other self would realize this as well. That he could make his own home. That he could find it in a person.

He closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep, already sure that he’d be waking up somewhere different. Still, it felt nice to drift off with Lance running his fingers through his hair. He didn’t think that was something that could ever get old.


	26. neighbors au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning you wonderful people!! i hope you have a great day! <3
> 
> edit: oh yeah there’s smut btw

_“Do you think he misses us?”_

_“Lance. Are you ever going to leave the med bay?”_

Keith woke up smiling. Poor Lance. Was he really just lingering in front of Keith’s pod that often? Of course Pidge would be berating him for that. Then again, Keith bet she’d be hugging him just as hard when he finally stepped out of it.

In this universe, Keith was alone in his bed. Actually, there didn’t seem to be any sign of Lance’s existence around here at all. He seemed to live in a small apartment, and a self-given tour around the place confirmed his suspicions to be true.

Trying to figure out where Lance would come into play in this universe, Keith took a look through his phone. He didn’t have any recent texts with Lance, however, and scrolling down didn’t prove that he’d even texted Lance ever. His most recent conversations were with Shiro, Allura, and ‘Idiot Neighbor’.

Did he not know Lance yet, in this universe? That was a possibility that he’d never really considered before, and now found himself hoping wouldn’t be the case. It just seemed like too much pressure. Keith didn’t want to have to be the one to make a good impression.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to think about it much longer, as he was soon distracted by his phone chiming with a text. He swiped open the message, grateful his phone didn’t have a passcode, and couldn’t help reading all the texts that were already on the screen.

 

 **Tuesday 4/18**  
**[22:17] Idiot Neighbor**  
u up?

 **[22:18] Keith**  
do i look like someone who goes to bed at 10

 **[22:18] Idiot Neighbor**  
lmao kind of  
i’m coming over

 **[22:19] Keith**  
k

 

**Friday 4/21**

**[19:47] Idiot Neighbor**  
i need some sugar

 **[19:50] Keith**  
like actually?

 **[19:51] Idiot Neighbor**  
no lmao

 **[19:51] Keith**  
come over

 

**Today**

**[09:47] Idiot Neighbor**  
hey u up?

Keith stared at the message. Studied it. Shrugged.

 **[09:48] Keith**  
yeah

The reply was immediate.

 **[09:48] Idiot Neighbor**  
lit  
b right there

 

And he was. Moments later, there was a knock on the door. Keith opened it without looking through the peephole first, and was surprised by Lance shoving his way inside the second it was open.

“Lance,” Keith said, not realizing that his idiot neighbor was apparently also Lance, but was immediately shut up when Lance grabbed him and shoved him back against the door, attaching their mouths together. “Woah,” he said in between kisses, laughing against Lance’s lips. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Lance scoffed. “Less talking, more touching, Mullet,” he snapped, and Keith’s eyes widened in surprise. Lance didn’t notice because he was already attacking Keith’s neck, sucking on the sensitive skin there as his hands ran up and down Keith’s sides.

Was there a reason Lance was in his phone as ‘Idiot Neighbor’? Like… were they really not friends? Not anything?

“Ah,” Keith said without meaning too, his breath catching in his throat as Lance’s leg slotted between his own, pressing upward.

Okay, rephrase that. They were clearly _something_ , but was this all they were? It didn’t seem like they liked each other very much, going solely by their texts and the five words Lance had spoken to him.

“Stay there,” Lance said, sparing a kiss for his mouth before striding across the living room. Keith listened to him, remaining pressed against the door as Lance bent over and began digging through a drawer on a table next to the couch. He came back with lube, which had Keith abruptly realizing that he’d never actually done this with Lance before.

He wasn’t exactly complaining, though, even if this Lance seemed to be a little less gentle, a little more hasty. There was less loving eye contact and more heated pressings of mouths. Less brushing Keith’s hair behind his ear and more yanking his head to the side as Lance nipped at his earlobe. Less panting each other’s names and more panting, “Fuck!” as Lance hiked his leg up around his waist, Keith having lost his pants, at some point.

Lance’s fingers were skilled as they worked into him, long and nimble and curling just right to make Keith forget how to breathe, sweat beading at his temples.

“You’re noisy today,” Lance commented, three fingers pressing into him. He was leaning back, watching Keith’s face as he did.

“Can’t help it,” Keith moaned, and it was true. After all, this was the first time someone else had touched him like this. Maybe not in this body, but in his mind.

He sucked in a breath when Lance removed his fingers, only to let it back out in a rush when Lance suddenly picked him up, his fingers digging into Keith’s thighs as he pressed him into the door. One hand left his thigh for a moment, reaching between his legs, and then he could feel Lance’s cock pressing against him, and then into him.

Their lips found each other briefly as Lance sank into him, but they quickly fell back apart as Lance started fucking him hard and fast. They couldn’t possibly have kissed while Keith was bouncing like that, his ankles locking behind Lance’s back and his arms wrapping around his neck in an attempt to balance.

It felt good, though it probably shouldn’t have. Keith hadn’t realized he would like sex this way, maybe just because he was used to the relatively tamer stuff he’d done with the Lances he’d met already.

He clung harder when Lance suddenly backed away from the door, carrying him over to the couch and laying him down there. This time when Lance drove into him, it was at a new angle, and he felt his insides light up as Lance thrusted directly into his prostate.

“There, fuck, there!” Keith panted, clinging to Lance as he fucked him harder, leaving sloppy kisses on whatever skin he could reach. Before too long, Lance’s hand was reaching between them, grabbing Keith’s cock and stroking him. The sensation was incredible, Lance everywhere all at once, and Keith came before he could utter a warning.

Lance groaned into his ear as Keith clenched around him, following shortly after and coming to a slow stop, still panting into Keith’s hair.

“Wow,” Keith said, his heart still thundering in his chest.

“Wow indeed,” Lance laughed, sliding out of him. Keith’s eyes widened at the feeling but he didn’t say anything, unsure whether that would be out of character for him. Lance’s hand slid through Keith’s hair almost absentmindedly before he stepped away, tossing a few tissues towards Keith and cleaning himself up as well before jumping back into his pants. It was only then that Keith realized they were dress pants, and Lance was still wearing his blue button up.

“You going to work?” Keith asked.

Lance tugged his sleeve up, glancing down at a silver watch.

“Yeah, I’ve got a meeting at 10:30,” he muttered. And then, “See ya.”

Keith was left lying mostly naked on the couch as Lance slipped out of his apartment, apparently in a rush to get to work.

\--

The problem in this universe was readily apparent. Keith noted this as he glared at himself in the mirror. The _same_  mirror that he’d been staring into for the past four days.

It was the longest Keith had been in any one place since he’d been to Hogwarts, before he’d realized that there was some sort of issue that needed to be solved before he could glitch out of there. But the Lance here clearly didn’t think there was any sort of problem with their relationship.

Probably because they didn’t _have_  a relationship.

After meeting up with Lance that first day, he’d spent the rest of the day in a funk, puttering around his apartment and silently apologizing to the Keith of this universe for missing a day of work unannounced. He didn’t even see Lance again until the next day, and that was because Keith had decided to go out and get the mail, wanting to feel useful. Lance had been in the mailroom too, but instead of friendly conversation, Keith had gotten snide comments and bickering.

The Lance of this universe _hated_  him. Or at least, Keith would think so if he hadn’t just fucked him. Still, it was clear that there wasn’t much more to their relationship. They weren’t particularly kind to each other, and they didn’t hang out or even really exchange pleasantries unless they were going to fuck.

The day before, Lance had ended up texting him again, that time taking Keith in an actual bed. It was easy to forget that this Lance wasn’t the biggest fan of him when they were in the middle of sex, what with the way Lance touched him, with the way he moaned against Keith and kissed him with a sense of urgency.

But again, immediately after, he’d gotten dressed and left. Barely even said a goodbye.

Now, having woken up in this universe for the fourth time, Keith was feeling over it. _This_  Keith could work it out for himself. Maybe he even liked their stupid dynamic!

…Except Keith knew that wasn’t true. Because _he_  didn’t like it. He bet his alternate self was just pining hopelessly after Lance, wishing he’d stay longer every time they fucked. How had he managed to get himself into this situation?

Better yet, how had Lance let this situation _continue_? Because Keith couldn’t genuinely believe that he was the only one with feelings here. Lance _must_  like him. Right before leaving, he’d cup his cheek or brush his hair aside absently. People who hated each other didn’t both with such soft little gestures, right?

Growling, Keith picked up his phone, deciding to text Lance first for the first time. He was going to fix this stupid universe, and then he was going to _leave_.

 

**Today**

**[11:03] Keith**  
wanna come over for coffee?

 **[11:06] Lance**  
smooth  
i’ll be right there lol

 

Keith rolled his eyes, knowing that Lance expected to traipse inside and shove him against the couch, probably, and have his way with him. Well, not today. Not on Keith’s watch.

He headed into the kitchen and started up the coffee maker, glaring at the machine in an attempt to make it go faster, and prepared two mugs. In Lance’s, he added milk and an abhorrent amount of sugar, just the way he liked it.

Lance walked in without knocking, glancing around for a moment before spotting Keith in the kitchen. He sniffed, probably smelling the coffee, and then his eyebrows drew inward in confusion. “You actually made coffee?” he said incredulously.

“Yeah, sit down,” Keith said, nodding towards the couch and carrying the mugs over to him. Lance sat down slowly, obviously confused.

“Pretty sure you don’t know how I like my coffee, Mullet,” Lance said, reaching out a hand anyway. His eyebrows raised in surprise after taking an expectant sip, though he didn’t voice aloud the fact that Keith had gotten it right. “All right, what’s going on?”

Keith sat down on the couch next to him, folding a leg under himself and turning to face him.

“Do you fuck anyone other than me?”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. “Uhh…”

“Do you?”

Lance frowned. “If this is about us not using condoms, I told you you didn’t have to worry. I’m clean.”

“Yeah, because you only fuck me.”

“Just because we lost our virginity together doesn’t mean I don’t fuck anyone else,” Lance snapped, and Keith tucked _that_  interesting tidbit of information away in the back of his mind. “You’re right next door, okay? It’s convenient and we already know what we like.”

“ _And_  you don’t want to fuck anyone else, because you like fucking _me_.”

“You’ve got a really big head today, Keith.”

“Which is fine, seeing as I like fucking you too. Admit it. We’re only having sex with each other.”

Lance’s mouth twisted. He sighed. “So what?” he finally said. “What does it matter?”

“Why are we pretending not to like each other?” Keith plowed on. “You can’t tell me you’ve never wanted to just lay there together afterwards. To just _talk_  or… or watch TV or something.”

Lance now had both hands on his mug, gripping it like a lifeline. “What do you want from me?” he muttered.

“I want you to take me on a date,” Keith said. “Find out my interests outside of sex.”

“I know what you’re interested in!” Lance argued, defensive.

Keith scoffed.

“I _do_. You sing to yourself when you think you’re alone. And you like to read — you always have a book laying open somewhere in your apartment. You hate your job. You’re obsessed with your motorcycle. You somehow know how I take my coffee, probably because you’re telepathic.”

Keith found himself smiling. And then Lance realized he was smiling and tentatively mirrored the expression. “Did you seriously invite me over here to talk about this?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “Sorry if you’re horny.”

Lance snorted. “I think I’ll survive,” he said. “But if you end up wanting to bone later, I wouldn’t mind trying out that cuddling afterwards thing.”

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Never call it boning again and you’ve got yourself a maybe.”

And finally, after four long days, Keith felt the glitch begin to build within him. He cuddled up with Lance on the couch beforehand, letting him pick out a movie for the two of them to watch. Very tentatively, Lance intertwined their fingers. Keith gave his hand a squeeze.


	27. parents au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was actually supposed to be a performers au but one of y'all commented a while back that you hoped there would be a chapter with them being parents and my eyes bulged out of my head as i realized i Needed It
> 
> anyway, the snack keith makes his son is a snack my dad made me when i was little uwu

_“HIS NOSE JUST TWITCHED.”_

_“So I think you imagined that.”_

_“…It’s possible.”_

Keith looked around in surprise. Not an apartment, for once? He was in what seemed to be an actual house, standing in the living room and staring out at a large back yard.

“Don’t chase me!” a high-pitched voice screamed, and Keith jumped, spinning around just in time to see a boy about five years old come racing into the living room, immediately circling around to the back of Keith’s legs. “Daddy! Save me!”

Keith was too busy gaping at him to save him, managing to close his mouth just in time as an older, chiseled version of Lance came thundering into the living room, his hands raised threateningly and his feet stomping loudly on the floor. “Fee fi fo fum!” he roared. “Where oh where is my darling son?”

The boy in question let out a sharp giggle behind Keith, but Lance pretended not to hear.

“Keith?” he said imploringly. “Have you seen Leo anywhere?”

Another giggle. “You know, I can’t say that I have,” Keith lied, crossing his arms. He and Lance had a _kid_  in this universe. Instead of this freaking him out, it filled him up with warmth. They had a _kid_. They were raising an actual human being together!

“Guess I’ll just have to look around the room…” Lance said dramatically, taking a step into the living room. “The tickle monster’s getting miiighty hungry…”

And then, suddenly, Lance roared, racing towards Keith, and Leo shrieked, stumbling around Keith once Lance got close enough.

“Daddy! Daddy!” he screeched, arms raised in the universal code for _pick me up!_  so Keith scooped him up into his arms, spinning him away from Lance as he gasped in mock-outrage.

“You were hiding him!” Lance gasped. “Betrayed! And by my own husband!”

Leo propped his chin on Keith’s shoulder and blew a raspberry at Lance.

“I might just have to tickle you _both_ ,” Lance threatened, which made Keith take off with the little boy in his arms, Leo laughing and screaming as they raced around the house, Lance hot on their tails.

It only ended when the sound of a baby crying began to emanate from a small device on the kitchen counter, making them all pause.

“I’ll get her,” Lance said, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, before spinning and leaving the kitchen. Moments later, his feet could be heard pounding up the stairs.

“Can I have a snack?” Leo said, leaning away from Keith as he continued to cling to his neck.

“Sure thing,” Keith said, setting him down on the counter. “How does apples and peanut butter sound?”

Leo wrinkled his nose. “I’m _allergic_.”

Keith’s eyes widened. He could’ve _killed_  his kid! “Just kidding,” he said quickly. “How ‘bout you tell me what you’re in the mood for?”

 _“Hey Sky,”_ said Lance’s voice over the baby monitor. The crying ceased. _“Yeah? You just wanted some attention?”_

“Poptarts!” Leo said.

Keith pursed his lips. “What about something healthier?”

“That _is_  healthy,” Leo argued. Keith opened the fridge, scanning their options. Praying that Leo wasn’t lactose intolerant as well as allergic to peanut butter, he said, “What if I made you a plate of crackers and cheese?”

“Yeah!” Leo said enthusiastically, and Keith breathed a sigh of relief. It was a classic snack — one his dad had made him all the time as a kid. He made it the same way his dad used to, with the crackers in the middle and the cheese lining the edge of the plate, facing outwards like they were rays of sunlight.

By the time Keith put the plate down in front of Leo, Lance reappeared in the kitchen’s doorway, holding a baby in his arms.

“Papi!” Leo said, twisting in his chair. “I have cheese and crackers!”

“No way!” Lance said, before rushing to the counter, grabbing a cracker, and shoving it into his mouth with obnoxious chewing sounds.

“No!” Leo roared, laughing, as Lance hummed in delight and rubbed his stomach over exaggeratedly.

“I might have to eat the whole plate,” Lance said dramatically.

 _“Don’t!”_ Leo said, pulling it closer to himself.

Lance sighed. “I _guess_  I’ll let you eat it,” he said, and Leo giggled, raising a cracker to his mouth to nibble.

Lance leaned against Keith’s side, and Keith wrapped an arm around his waist. The baby in Lance’s arms — Sky, he’d said over the baby monitor — was staring up at Keith with wide, curious eyes. She had drool on her chin.

“I’m really sorry to do this, but I got called into work,” Lance murmured, looking at Keith with worried eyes. “I know we were gonna have a family day…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Keith said, squeezing his hip a little bit tighter. “When do you have to leave?”

“In a couple minutes,” Lance sighed, before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Keith’s lips. “I’m gonna go get dressed,” he said, pressing the baby into Keith’s arms.

Minutes later, Lance was dressed and put together, running his fingers through styled hair as he hurried into the kitchen. “Leo? Papi’s gonna go into work for a little bit, okay?” he said, leaning down to press a kiss against Leo’s cheek.

Their son pouted.

“I thought you didn’t have to work today,” he whined.

“Allura isn’t feeling well, so I’m gonna cover for her,” he said. “Buuut, I was thinking I’d pick up something yummy for dinner. Maybe Chinese food. Whadaya think?”

Leo jumped out of his chair. “Dumplings!” he shouted. “I want dumplings, Papi!”

“Deal,” Lance said, scrubbing a hand through his hair before circling the counter. Sky was sitting on it, Keith’s hands on her hips, but he raised one of her chubby little arms and waved at Lance for her.

“Skylar you little genius,” Lance said, pressing another kiss to her cheek before pecking Keith on the lips. “I’ll see you tonight sweetheart, okay?”

“Have fun,” Keith said, and when Lance turned, he patted him on the butt.

Initially, Keith was worried about having to take care of the kids all day, but he ended up being kind of… good at it. It had him feeling both surprised and proud, whenever he managed to make Leo laugh or got Skylar to smile her little gummy smile at him. Later in the day, he even put on that movie Enchanted for Leo. He wasn’t sure whether he would actually like it — did kids at this age even enjoy movies that weren’t cartoons? — but he seemed content enough to sit and watch. He especially liked the little chipmunk, and he couldn’t get enough of it when Keith ended up singing to him.

Sky was asleep in her playpen at the other end of the couch, and without a baby to occupy his arms, Keith went into full theatrics.

“How do I knooow, he loves me?” he sang, jumping off the couch and kneeling before Leo, who giggled. “How do I knoooow, he’s miiine?” he sang into Leo’s hand, pretending it was a microphone.

By the time Lance got home, Leo had been talking about eating dumplings for probably the last hour. Lance look tired, thanks to his long day of work, but he held up the to go bags triumphantly, taking the food out and arranging it on the table neatly as Keith grabbed them all plates. Skylar was still asleep, a bottle prepared for her in the fridge for whenever she woke up, and the rest of them ate together at the table.

When it was finally time for Leo and Sky to go to bed, Lance and Keith retreated to their own room. Lance collapsed onto their bed with a groan.

“You feelin’ okay?” Keith asked, coming to sit beside Lance on the bed.

“Mhmm,” Lance hummed, turning his head to the side and peeking his eyes open so he could see Keith. He smiled. “Just tired.”

“You want a massage?” Keith asked, unsure where exactly that had come from. Did he even know how to give a massage? What if he and Lance did massages all the time and Lance realized he was suddenly really bad at it?

“That would be great,” Lance enthused, stretching out further on his stomach. Keith stared at him, silently panicking. How should he do this? He shuffled closer on his knees, hands hovering above Lance’s back. This was a kind of awkward angle, right? How was he supposed to reach up and massage his shoulders this way?

Suddenly, he remembered a day many months ago. Hunk and Lance in the lounge, Lance sitting on Hunk’s butt as he karate chopped his back.

 _“What are you guys doing?"_  Keith has asked, spotting them on his way back from the kitchen.

 _“Massages,”_ Lance had said. _“Wait, can you come here real quick and help me balance as I walk on Hunk’s back?"_

If it was normal for Lance to sit on Hunk’s butt, then surely it was fine for Keith to do the same to Lance? To his husband?

Refusing to let himself think it over any longer, Keith swung a leg over Lance’s waist and sat down on his butt, leaning forward and gripping Lance’s shoulders, massaging them as best he could.

Lance groaned. “Why don’t we do these every night?” he mumbled into the sheets.

“Laziness?” Keith guessed.

“When you’re right, you’re right,” he said, sighing happily. “I can do you next, if you want.”

“That’s okay,” Keith said, despite the thought of Lance’s hands working over his body being a rather good one. “Tonight can be all about you.”

Lance’s eyes were closed again, but that didn’t stop him from grinning. “You’re a sap,” he said. “And I swear to god, I’ll suck your dick in the morning. You deserve it.”

“Oh really?” Keith said, amused.

“That or a romantic night out. We could get Shiro to babysit.”

“We could combine the two,” Keith suggested. “Car sex.”

“Mmm,” Lance said. “Can’t wait for the back pain in my foreseeable future. But you’re right, we haven’t had a date in forever. This’ll be nice.”

“Sure will,” Keith agreed readily. “Now shut up and enjoy your massage.”

“Love you,” Lance mumbled, folding his arms up under his head. Keith was glad he’d kissed the kids goodnight, because he could tell it was almost time to go. Still, he accepted it readily, having a feeling that his alternate self would be better at massages than he was.


	28. fantasy au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: oh man a fantasy au!! i could put klance in the universe of my own original novel!  
> dark me, chuckling: dragons  
> me: b-but subtle promotion—  
> dark me, roaring: DRAGONS!!!!!!
> 
> ...aaaand dragons it is

_Silence._

When Keith appeared in the next universe, he stumbled to a stop, because he’d been running. Why had he been running?

Behind him, an earsplitting roar. Without thinking, Keith started running again. Sometimes, the other versions of him had it right.

What the hell was going on? Why did he have to show up here _now_ , getting chased by some monster and running for his life? Er, no offense to the other Keith who’d already been doing this for who knew how long.

He was in some huge sort of cave, dust raining down on him as the ground and walls surrounding him shook with the monstrous steps of whatever was behind him. Whatever was letting out those roars, and probably gaining on him, considering how big it must be.

Suddenly, Keith saw a tiny alcove. Hoping that the monster behind him was too big to get inside, he turned and sprinted for the opening, shoving his body as far into the crack in the wall as he could, turning to the side and shimmying further and further in. He was panting, his chest hitting the wall opposite him with every breath, which made him feel claustrophobic.

The creature roared again, louder and closer than ever, and its footfalls shook the ground harder than before. Suddenly, any amount of light seeping in through the opening was blocked as a ginormous, Keith-sized eyeball lined itself up with the opening. Keith swallowed, gaping at the creature before him. Its eye was blue, flickering back and forth, but clearly able to see Keith despite the low lighting. Surrounding its eye were tiny scales of the same color, which got bigger the further they got from its eye.

The monstrous creature let out a noise that sounded particularly like a whine. And then the eye rose out of view, and Keith clung to the wall behind him as a clawed foot tried to wedge its way into the opening. Thankfully, the creature’s toes were too big to fit inside, although its claws did make nice headway, almost able to come in contact with Keith. He pressed himself ever further into the opening, now definitely finding it hard to breathe.

The creature gave up, its foot retracting entirely. Keith watched as it walked away from the opening, its feet stepping past Keith’s view, followed up by a large tail dragging on the ground.

Was this… a dragon?

Keith wanted to think that _no_ , it couldn’t possibly be a dragon, dragons didn’t _exist_ , but he knew all too well that there were realities upon realities where physics and logic didn’t line up with his own one bit.

Even after the dragon left, Keith stayed where he was for a good amount of time. He wondered why the dragon hadn’t just breathed fire at him to kill him. Maybe it wanted to be able to eat him after it cooked him. Or maybe it just couldn’t breathe fire.

After probably thirty minutes of just standing there, breathing in dust and the dank smell of cave, Keith deemed it safe. He slid against the rock, cursing under his breath whenever his clothes snagged against it, and stepped out into the open. The entire cave was dark, except for the thin slats of light that filtered through the craggy ceiling, not really reassuring Keith much about the cave’s integrity. Thankfully, he didn’t see the dragon anywhere, and with his heart beating an anxious rhythm in his throat, he took a step backwards, the way he’d been running from, hoping there was an entrance that way.

And it was because he was still looking into the depths of the cave that he saw it. Saw the dragon in its entirety stepping expertly out of the shadows, its eyes gleaming.

“No,” Keith breathed, before turning tail and running. He took maybe three steps before a giant, clawed hand snatched him up, Keith’s yell escaping him and cutting off in the same breath as the air was knocked out of his lungs. The dragon was running, using only three of its legs as it held Keith close to its chest.

Much sooner than if it were Keith running, they emerged from the cave, bursting out onto a snowy mountaintop. The dragon leaped into the air, its powerful wings pumping, making the pressure so great that Keith’s ears popped, and then they were off, flying away.

There was no escape. The dragon’s grip was too tight, and even if Keith could maneuver his way out of it, they were too high up in the air. He’d die.

They only flew for a couple minutes before coming to a stop on the top of a neighboring mountain, this one crowned by what looked like a giant bird nest. A dragon nest.

There, the dragon set Keith down, and Keith found himself looking around frantically, wondering if maybe the dragon had captured Lance and brought him here too. But nope, Keith was alone, and the dragon backed away from him, the breath leaving its nose turning white in the cold air.

Why wasn’t it eating Keith? Or doing anything, really? Why had it brought him here?

And God, where the fuck was _Lance_? How was Keith supposed to get out of this universe if this stupid dragon was getting in the way?

But then Keith paused. And he examined the dragon once more. The dragon, with its monstrous claws and terrifying teeth. With its piercing eyes, a familiar shade of blue… With its wings raised and almost shielding Keith from the wind, as if to keep Keith warm…

“Lance?” Keith said tentatively.

The roar Lance let out was deafening, his teeth gleaming with horrifying precision as he lowered his body, leveling his face with Keith’s. “You’re… a dragon?”

Lance huffed out a breath, but nonetheless, he looked pleased. Keith had lots of questions. Such as, had he always been a dragon? Would he always _be_  a dragon? How did the two of them know each other? Why had Lance been chasing him in a cave?

Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure he could pry those answers out of Lance when Lance couldn’t even talk, not to mention that his lack of knowledge on the subject would definitely be incriminating. Lance had been accepting of his reality traversing in other universes, but those Lance’s had been _human_. Or… human _shaped_.

This Lance was a _dragon_. What if Keith mentioned that he wasn’t _his_  Keith and Lance went on a rampage, or like, ate him, or something?

No, Keith would just play along. Pretend to know what the fuck was going on. Pretend that the fact that Lance was a dragon wasn’t inherently terrifying.

Still, Lance seemed pleased with Keith’s new discovery, and Keith guessed that that discovery was one that the Keith before him hadn’t been too close to making. It was probably only a matter of time until he glitched out of here, now.

Lance didn’t seem likely to leave him alone for any amount of time, though. Now that Keith knew who he was, he seemed extremely happy with himself, and before Keith could do anything, Lance was laying down around him. His enormous face was placed right beside Keith as the rest of his body surrounded him, his wings shuffling on the sides of his body to get comfortable.

Tentatively, Keith reached out a hand. He slowly, carefully moved it forward, until he was pressing it against Lance’s cheek, under his eye. Lance let out a pleased hum, his eye sliding shut.

And then the glitch began to built up. It grew within Keith, spreading like fire throughout his veins, a pain that had once been intense but was now just familiar.

Lance’s eye shot open.

Narrowed.

Like lightning, he shot to his feet, roaring at the sky as his wings expanded, as he stepped over Keith. He roared at the sky, and then he angled his head down and roared at Keith, hot breath rolling over him and stripping away all signs of the glitch, leaving him standing there shaking as Lance began to circle around him, huffing.

What… what had just happened? Had Lance _felt_  the glitch? Had he _prevented_  it?

“Lance,” Keith said warily, but Lance snarled at him, baring his teeth. His wings were raised, making him look even bigger than he already did — making him look like a threat. How the hell was _Keith_  a threat to the pinnacle of terror that was _Lance_? “Come on, buddy,” Keith murmured. “I’ll still be here after the glitch.” _I think._

Lance wasn’t having it. He was positively glaring at Keith, low, angry grunts leaving him, his breathing having picked up. Keith didn’t miss the tendrils of smoke escaping his nose. So dragons _could_  breathe fire.

“Okay,” Keith said placatingly, raising his hands. “I’ll stay here a little bit longer. How’s that sound?”

Lance growled.

“I can’t stay forever!” Keith protested. “You felt the glitch, didn’t you? You must realize I don’t belong here. Not really.”

Lance growled again.

“Don’t you miss your own Keith?” Keith tried pathetically. (He also tried pathetically to figure out just what it meant that he and Lance being together continued even when one of them was a _dragon_.)

Lance didn’t say anything, because he _couldn’t_  say anything, but he _did_  snatch Keith up again. Kind of like a, _you’re not going anywhere, buddy._ And seeing as Lance could apparently scare the glitch away, this was probably true.

Maybe there was something else to be fixed. More than just one problem here.

Lance huffed, smoke drifting from his nostrils as his giant, dragon hand clutched tighter around Keith.

Then again, maybe he was just possessive.

Hours passed, the glitch not daring to raise its head once again after Lance frightening it away. Nor did Lance relent his grip on Keith, even once. He seemed content to just lay around and snooze, but even in his sleep his grip didn’t loosen. Plus, his fingers weren’t really the best insulators of heat.

Lance’s face had been warm, but feet were usually where heat was designed to escape. Not to mention, Lance’s claws were curled around Keith as well, and they didn’t even heat up. They just seemed to suck all the warmth out of Keith’s skin.

The longer he spent there, the more he hoped he’d teleport away just so he could get warm again. Somehow, he had a feeling that Lance would be aware of it even in his sleep. At least, that’s why he hoped his body hadn’t tried to make him glitch again. Lance couldn’t have scared it away for good, could he?

Keith’s teeth were chattering. He was shivering violently, Lance’s clawed hands doing little to block the frigid air at the mountaintop. Night was falling, and it was only going to grow colder.

“Lance,” Keith said, at first as a whisper and then louder. Were there consequences for waking a sleeping dragon? “Lance,” he said again, struggling against his grip anew, and the eye that Keith could actually see finally peeled open. “I’m cold,” Keith said.

Lance released Keith and got to his feet, glancing towards the sky. And then, with a particularly ominous rumble, he began to shake. Keith backed away, unsure as to what was happening, but Lance shook harder and harder, until it seemed like he was shaking his form off altogether.

Right before Keith’s eyes, Lance shrunk. Where once there was a towering dragon, there was now a Lance shaped… _Lance_. He was still covered in scales, though not so liberally now. They were most present around his joints and fanning from his eyes, which he rubbed as though tired.

And then he blinked. “Keith?” he said, sounding confused.

“Don’t act like you don’t remember kidnapping me here.”

Lance’s eyes widened, and he spun around in a circle, seeming to realize where they were. “Oh, shit,” he mumbled. “Fuck.”

“Care to explain why you’re just turning into a human… dragon… person…?” Keith sighed, giving up, before adding, _“Now?”_

“I can’t do it while I’m low on energy!” he protested, taking several steps closer to Keith. He seemed surprised when Keith didn’t stumble backwards in fear. “I swear, I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to dragon out on you like that. I was planning on telling you eventually, really, I just thought it’d be too much, you know? I mean,” he gave a self-deprecating laugh, shoving a hand through his hair, “it’s not every day you find out your part-dragon boyfriend isn’t so _part_ -dragon after all.”

Oh, thank God, they were already dating.

“Lance, I don’t care what you are,” he said seriously, stepping forward so he could grab Lance’s hand. Lance stared at the point of contact in what looked like awe. “I care about _you_. And if you’re a fire-breathing dragon that chases me sometimes, then so be it. I’m just glad you didn’t eat me.”

Lance paled. “I chased you?” he whined, looking guilty. “When I brought you to that mountain, I really was just trying to show you that treasure I found.” He winced. “Which… yeah, the treasure stereotypes are kind of true. But it’s just _cool_. And there’s so much history behind it! And I didn’t expect to have to defend ourselves from a bunch of treasure-stealing bandits.” The words were escaping him in a rush, filing in little bits of information that Keith hadn’t thought he was going to obtain. “God, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Not at all,” Keith promised. “You really don’t remember anything from when you were a dragon?”

Lance frowned. “It’s… not like my human memory,” he hedged. “And it’s easier to access when I’m in that form. But you think differently as a dragon, you know? You have different needs. Different wants.” He swallowed. “I’m really, really sorry about that Keith. I can get you back home, if you want. I mean, we’d have to hike a bit — I think if I turned back into a dragon, I’d just want to hoard you here,” he said, seeming embarrassed, “but I know the way around here in my human form pretty well too. There’s an abandoned lodge about halfway down that we could stop at…”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I don’t feel like hiking through the snow right now,” he said, giving into another shiver. “Let’s worry about that tomorrow.”

“You’re cold, aren’t you?” Lance said worriedly. “Come on, I can warm you up.”

Lance didn’t breathe fire out of his mouth — Keith couldn’t tell whether he was more relieved or disappointed by that — but he did pull Keith down onto a patch of the nest still warm from where he’d been lying before. Luckily, Lance ran hot in his human form too, and it felt good to curl into his arms. Felt good to know that the problem really was fixed, that his alternate self would hopefully know that Lance was a friendly, not so part-dragon dragon. Everything was fixed.

And as such…

Right on cue. Once again, the glitch built up within him.

And once again—

“What is that?” Lance said, his voice a deeper tenor than usual. His grip around Keith tightened protectively before he let go just a little bit, kneeling above him and looking around them suspiciously. His shoulders were raised, and he looked like he was debating turning into a dragon again, which was _not_  what Keith needed right then.

“Hey, stop,” Keith said.

“There’s… magic,” Lance said. “I can feel it. Something’s happening,” he muttered suspiciously, looking around even more frantically now.

“Okay, listen,” Keith said, sitting up as well. “You told me your secret, I’ll tell you mine.”

Lance looked at him, alarmed. “ _You’re_  a magic wielder?”

“No,” Keith said. “The truth is, I’m not from your universe. In my universe, a…” how could he simplify this? “A witch put a curse on me. I’ve been traveling through universes at random, and it’s about time for me to move on. Dragons don’t even exist where I come from,” he added as an afterthought.

Lance gaped at him.

“That’s… a lot to take in,” he muttered. “You still knew who I was?”

Keith smiled wryly. “You’re a bit of a constant in my life.”

Lance frowned thoughtfully. And then he lit up. “Don’t tell me we’re together in all these universes?”

Keith huffed out a laugh. “Yeah,” he said with a happy sigh. “Yeah, we are.”

Lance giggled. “Guess I shouldn’t have been stressing over scaring you away with Blue, then,” he said, shaking his head.

“Blue?”

Lance shrugged, abashed. “That’s what I call my other self. He kind of… has a mind of his own.”

“Yeah, he scared away my glitch the first time,” Keith said.

Lance frowned. “So when is this curse going to end? Don’t you have a home to get back to?”

Keith felt his shoulders slump in on himself. “Yeah, but… I don’t know,” he said.

It wasn’t something he’d given much thought to, recently. Of course he wanted to go home. Of course he missed it. But somehow, his universe didn’t feel like his _reality_  anymore. His reality was being cursed, shifting from universe to universe, from Lance to Lance. And then, hopefully, at the end of this long, long road — he’d get to be with his own Lance. That’s the hope he’d been clinging to ever since that soulmate universe, anyway.

“That doesn’t sound very fun,” Lance commented. “How long has it been?”

Keith thought about it.

And thought about it.

How long _had_  it been? Could he even recall every universe he’d been to?

Maybe, given enough time. He probably couldn’t put them in order. Probably couldn’t match every Lance he’d met to every universe he’d been to. He wondered how long this would go on, how many Lances he’d meet. How they would all begin to blur together into one, undecipherable mass.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Not terribly long.”

And then, in a very Lance-like diversionary way, he changed the topic. “So, dragons really don’t exist in your universe?”

Keith laughed. “Nope. But aliens do. My real body’s actually on a spaceship, right now.”

 _“No way!”_ Lance breathed. “That’s _way cooler_  than dragons, are you kidding me?!”

Keith pulled him closer, the two of them laying down again, and they talked. It felt nice. Comfortable. Lance was very, very warm.

And this time, when the glitch built up again, Lance didn’t stop it. Didn’t scare it away. He just held Keith’s hand and looked at him with wide eyes. Keith shot him a smile, squeezing the hand in his grip.

“It was nice meeting you, Lance. I won’t forget you,” Keith promised.

For the first time, he watched as Lance’s eyes flickered with sadness. He didn’t think any of them had really seen it this way, before. That they were meeting a Keith that wasn’t their own. Different, but still him. Someone they would never see again.

“I won’t forget you either,” Lance said, but Keith was already gone.


	29. home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't believe we're finally here, it feels so bittersweet! i can't tell if posting this fic every day made it feel like the month went by faster or shorter... 
> 
> anyway, i just wanted to thank y'all for reading! thanks to those who commented every day and became regulars in my mind and the silent readers and those that will be reading this in the future! i really hope you all enjoyed it! have a good day!!! <33

“Paladins, get to your lions! We’re under heavy fire!”

A hissing sound.

A blast of cool air.

 _Not again,_  Keith thought to himself hopelessly. This time when he stumbled out of the pod, there was no one to catch him, and he fell to his hands and knees, taking a moment to just breathe and blink the black spots out of his vision.

He hated these universes the most. The first time he’d encountered one, back with that Lance that’d acted like Keith while Keith had had to act like Lance, he’d been grateful. He’d been desperately missing home, and seeing it, even a facsimile of it, had been much appreciated. But ever since that Lance with the prosthetic leg, he’d been dreading awakening on the castle again. And coming out of a fucking pod, no less.

Not because he hated the thought of Lance having less than 100% of his limbs — he would love Lance no matter what he looked like, and missing a leg was much tamer than, say, being a dragon — but it all just felt like some big, horrible tease. Like a slap in the face. So close, and yet still horribly, terribly far.

Still, Keith picked himself up and rushed to his room, pulling on his paladin armor before running to his hangar. With his helmet on, he was automatically connected to the coms, and he could hear his team yelling at one another as they fought the army on their doorstep. He didn’t say anything yet, concentrating on listening to them and trying to decipher what exactly was happening.

“They must know we’re weak,” Lance growled, his voice full of frustration in Keith’s ear. “We haven’t formed Voltron in weeks. No one’s even _seen_  the red lion.”

“So they’ve ganged up on us,” Shiro concluded with a sigh. “They might know we’re not at tip-top shape right now, but we’re still stronger than them even with a member out of commission. Everyone just stay focused.”

“On your left!” Pidge shouted.

“Boo-yah!” Hunk added, after the sound of an explosion.

Keith slipped into the familiar pilot seat in Red’s cockpit, breathing out a sigh of relief as she hummed to life around him. Much better than finding himself piloting Blue. No offense.

The relief Red felt at his presence was palpable, and he wondered how long the Keith of this universe had been out of commission. Lance had said something about weeks having passed, Keith thought warily. He couldn’t imagine an injury horrid enough to keep one of them in a cryopod for that long.

“Let’s go, girl,” Keith murmured, his voice barely audible under the cacophony of everyone else’s, so it wasn’t until he shot off into space, his fingers laced familiarly around Red’s thrusters, that anyone noticed he was there.

“Lance, take those trying to flank us! Pidge, use your cloaking device and help him, give ‘em a surprise. Keith, take those up front.”

“Yes sir!” Keith said, shooting off, and then there was a collective gasp.

“Wait,” Shiro muttered.

“Keith?” Hunk said incredulously.

“KEITH?” Lance roared, Blue actually coming to a stop right in the middle of the battle field.

“Yeah, yeah, I bet you’re all excited to see me, but we’ve got an army to take out!” Keith said, the only one still actively fighting the Galra at that moment. Thankfully, that seemed to spur everyone back into action, though their voices were still clamoring for attention in his ear.

“When did you get out of your pod?”

“Are you feeling all right?”

“—shouldn’t be _fighting_  so soon after—”

Keith blocked them all out, concentrating on their mission. The sooner they could defeat the Galra, the sooner Keith could discover the root of the problems between him and this Lance, and the sooner he could be out of this universe and back to one that wasn’t eerily similar to his own.

It seemed like everyone was fighting even harder than usual due to Keith’s appearance. They didn’t even have to form Voltron, because by the time any of them had thought to mention it, the Galra army was already several damaged and on the retreat.

They were all quick to return to their hangars, Keith giving Red a fond pat on the dashboard as he stood up, before he descended the ramp from her mouth.

Everyone was in Red’s hangar.

Before Keith could get a word in edgewise, they were swarming him. He was passed around like a ball, thrust from one teammate’s arms to the next, over and over and over again. He was pretty sure Lance had already hugged him twice.

“Guys, I’m okay, really,” he laughed, wondering what must’ve happened to him. Probably something really bloody. Probably something horribly painful. He was glad he couldn’t remember it.

“Well, physically, sure,” Lance scoffed, crossing his arms and looking him up and down. “But it’s your mental health that we’re worried about, _guapo_.” Hadn’t heard that one in a while. Keith still wasn’t sure what it meant. Lance continued, “All that pogo-sticking from universe to universe without even knowing _why_ —”

Keith couldn’t hear him. There was a buzzing in his ears. White in his vision.

“What did you just say?” he said numbly, his heart not daring to speed up in his chest. A trick. He’d misheard him.

Lance scoffed. “Dude, you don’t know what a pogo stick is?”

“Not that,” Keith said. He cleared his throat. Looked around at his team, at their faces. “The universe thing.”

“What, did the queen lie to us?” Lance demanded. “She said that’s what was happening to you!”

The breath escaped from Keith’s lungs silently. His knees grew weak, and he sank to the ground at their whim, his butt hitting his ankles as he sat there numbly, the world spinning around him. “I’m back?” he voiced aloud, disbelievingly. He wasn’t even looking at them, just staring distantly at their feet. _Their_  feet. Their _real_ , from _his universe_ , feet.

“You… didn’t realize that?” Pidge answered.

It was too good to be true. With Keith’s luck, there was probably some other version of him out reality-hopping right now too. Some other queen. Some other poor bastard forced into this pitiful existence, waiting to return home to this universe. One that seemed so achingly like his own…

“Is this real?” Keith said, looking up at them. Shiro looked pained. Lance looked heartbroken.

“Perhaps I can ease your fears, Keith,” Allura said gently, her hand suddenly falling onto his shoulder. “Your soul was forced through different realities due to the queen of Exrus’ powers. It was a punishment for not returning her daughter’s advancements, the magic originally placed upon you some 31 cycles ago. 27 cycles ago, it activated. Your soul’s been adrift ever since, traversing realities, presumably. Unless the queen lied to us, in which case, there will be hell to pay.”

Keith blinked up at Allura. He didn’t think he’d ever heard her swear before.

“You were with me when it happened, remember, Keith?” Lance said desperately. He was kneeling in front of Keith, now, looking at him with wide, pleading eyes. “I was carrying you to the med bay.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Keith managed. Lance… did he really love Keith, here? He’d spent the last several universes convincing himself it was so. He’d even confessed to him, once, in a universe that’d looked like this one. But now that he was finally here, it felt like he was waking up from a dream. What if he was wrong?

But God, what if he _wasn’t?_

And then it all came crashing down on him, suddenly, like a tidal wave. He was home. He was _home_.

A breath shuddered out of Keith, his eyes embarrassingly filling up with tears, and he pressed a hand to his mouth.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” he muttered, barely audible. But Lance heard it. He scooted forward on his knees and pulled Keith into a crushing hug, and then everyone else was following suit, gathering around him and hugging him, touching him, stroking his back and his hair and grabbing his hands and Keith shook, trying to hold his tears at bay.

He was really, _really_  home.

\--

The first order of business was going back to Exrus. They had a few choice words for the queen, after all, not to mention they wanted to make sure that Keith’s return to this universe would be permanent.

Keith found himself shrinking into himself as they exited their lions on the surface of Exrus, the castle still in the atmosphere. The message was clear — this wasn’t going to be a lengthy visit.

It didn’t feel nice to be back here. Especially when the queen likely knew more about what Keith had experienced than his team did — it’d been at her prowess, anyway. And the thing was, Keith wasn’t ready for the team to know that he’d been visiting universe after universe where he was romantically inclined with Lance. Mostly because, well, he still hadn’t told Lance yet.

There hadn’t been _time_ , for one thing, plus he still didn’t know how he was going to do it. He was realizing that the reason it’d been so much easier in the other universes was because it wouldn’t actually _affect_  him. At the end of the day, he’d be whisked off to some other reality, and the Keith he left behind could deal with any mess he happened to leave. Except… Keith had never left a mess. He’d been the one _fixing_  things.

God, this was all so frustrating. He wished it could be as simple as just reaching over and taking Lance’s hand.

“You okay?” Lance said, his voice cutting into Keith’s thoughts. He turned towards him quickly, half afraid that he really had started holding his hand.

A glance.

Nope, his feelings were not yet compromised.

“Yeah, ‘course,” Keith said, glancing towards the building they were approaching. Fuck that building. Fuck this planet.

“Liar,” Lance said, bumping shoulders with him. Keith scoffed.

“I’m not lying, Lance.”

“Yeah ya are,” Lance sang. “You have a tell.”

“No I don’t,” Keith said defensively.

Lance just gave him this _look_. “Oh, you _so_  do,” he said. “You get all defensive, for one thing. And you like… glower, a little bit.”

Keith wiped away his expression.

“Now you’ve got a poker face,” Lance joked. “Seriously, it’s okay if you’re not okay. I can’t imagine jumping between realities for that long. I bet it was scary.”

“Yeah, it was, sometimes,” Keith admitted. “I saw a dragon,” he added, foregoing the fact that _Lance_  was the dragon.

Lance gaped at him. “No fucking way.”

“That’s actually where I just was,” Keith said, oddly fond. But then he frowned. “I guess I just… I’m afraid. You know, that this _isn’t_  actually real, somehow. Or that even if it is, I’ll still glitch out of here anyway.” He took a deep breath. Felt the air in his lungs weigh heavily on his heart. “I’m tired of not being home.”

“You _are_  home,” Lance said, voice firm. He wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders, which wasn’t really the most efficient when walking, but it was comforting nonetheless. “And we’re not gonna let you glitch away. I promise.”

The doors of the palace opened for them, and they made their way inside, their shoes echoing on the marble floors. Lance unwound his arm from Keith’s shoulders before they stepped into the throne room and Keith jolted, having forgotten it was even there. Or, more accurately, having forgotten that it was out of place there.

“If it isn’t the Paladins of Voltron,” the queen said smoothly, her head tilted just a bit to the side as she watched them approach, guards standing and holding spears on either side of her. “What a wonderful surprise to see you again. And with your missing piece, as well!”

“No thanks to you,” Lance scoffed, earning a warning glare from both Shiro and Allura. Pidge seemed to be on Lance’s side, though, her arms crossed and her back stiff.

“I think you mean no thanks to _him_ ,” the queen said, nodding her head towards Keith, who gaped.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he blurted. Normally, Allura and Shiro headed these kinds of conversations, but it appeared that this time they just couldn’t help themselves.

“I only mean to say that you quite took your time coming back,” she said innocently, smiling a tiny smile at him.

Keith was offended. No, he was enraged. He stormed a couple feet forward, the guards before the queen moving subtly before her.

“You’re the reason I’ve been bouncing like a pinball between universes,” he growled. “Forced to solve problems that weren’t mine! Experience lives that weren’t mine!”

Sharp peals of laughter escaped the queen, a dainty hand pressed against her mouth. Keith was panting, feeling the exertion of his anger the same as if he’d run a marathon. “Oh, darling,” she sighed happily, leaning forward and propping her chin in her hand. Her eyes twinkled with mirth. “I didn’t control when you left. I knocked you out of our own reality, it’s true, but you only ever left the others when _you_  were ready. You could’ve come back here at any time.” Keith’s heart was pounding mercilessly in his heart. Horror was clawing at his insides. “Staying gone so long was your own doing.”

Keith was shaking, both with anger and indignance, his shoulders rising up towards his ears. “That’s not true,” he said, his voice scarily calm. It carried easily in the large chamber. “I wanted to come home _so badly_. I cried to Lance about it!” he said desperately, as if to convince her, with a hand flung out towards said paladin. And then he remembered his audience and he flushed, realizing he maybe shouldn’t have revealed that fact. Especially since Lance didn’t quite know the circumstances of everything yet. He was probably wondering why Keith had cried to _him_ , of all people.

“Oh, I’m sure you were homesick,” the queen said with a little shrug, unbothered. As if she hadn’t played a major role in the last _month_  of Keith’s distress. “But even then, deep down, you must’ve wanted more,” she said, leaning forward. And her eyes shone with knowledge. Knowledge of what Keith had experienced in those universes. _Who_  he’d experienced them with. What exactly he might’ve wanted more of.

His face burned hot. She wasn’t about to announce it, was she?

And God, was she really telling the truth?

All those times he’d closed his eyes and glitched away, hoping beyond belief that he would just _please_  wake up back here again — had he been lying to himself? Had a part of him, no matter how small, really wanted to stay there? To experience just one more Lance, just one more time?

It didn’t make sense. Keith remembered the soul crushing sensation of finding himself in yet another strange place, time after time, when all he wanted was to be here again. To be home.

But then, he also remembered so many other, stupid, little things. He remembered the way his heart had fluttered, the first time Lance had called him a pet name. He remembered the way he’d once kissed Lance like it would be his last, before he’d realized that universe after universe, the same proved true: Lance loved him. He remembered accepting the fact that he was simply there to enjoy it ( _and suffer_ ) while it lasted. And he remembered all the Lance’s that he’d shared this whole endeavor with trying to convince him of the same thing — that they’d love him no matter the universe.

He remembered trying to believe it. Wanting to believe it. Wanting to go _home_.

He remembered getting to see his dad again. Remembered the satisfaction of helping all the other versions of himself and Lance — versions that he’d helped for no reason, apparently. Sure, there’d been good times, but they all seemed to pale in comparison to the amount of desperation Keith had harbored. His desire to leave those realities once and for all.

“I wanted to come home,” Keith muttered, his voice quiet. Defeated and confused.

The queen took pity on him. “What you didn’t fear in those other realities, you feared in this one. Whether you were willing to admit that to yourself or not, a part of you knew it was true all along. That’s why you took so long to come back.”

Keith slumped in on himself.

“Well he _is_  back,” Lance interrupted, his voice ringing through the room loudly. “Which means he isn’t scared anymore. And that he won’t be glitched out of here again, right?”

“That is correct,” the queen said. She was gazing at Lance with amusement. _She knew too much._  “I promise, you will remain here from here on out. Will that be all?”

Allura cleared her throat. “Yes,” she said, and though her voice was polite, it was also cold. “Thank you very much. We’ll be on our way now.”

“Very well,” the queen said, and the team turned to leave.

Keith was finally home. He was home for _good_.

So why did he feel like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders?

\--

Keith felt... discombobulated. If he was right about what that word meant and what if was like to feel that way. He’d spent the last month totally convinced that nothing had been up to his control. That he’d only be able to leave after fixing some sort of problem that only he realized needed to be fixed.

Finding out that all of that had just been in his head? It made him feel like an idiot. Like he’d been suffering for no reason at all.

Not to mention he was still unsettled. The queen was just so amused by the whole ordeal he’d gone through, and she hadn’t even brought up those threatening words that she’d once spoken. About giving Keith what he wanted before taking it away. Was he about to realize how true those words really were? If he told Lance about his feelings only for Lance to reject him, adhering to the queen’s warning... Keith didn’t even know what he would do. Die, maybe. All the confidence he hadn’t realized he’d built up during his travels had been effectively toppled with just a few words and a killer smirk from the same queen he’d been hating all along.

There was no time to wallow in his fear of telling Lance, however. The team wanted everything to do with him, having ushered him to the lounge in order to keep him company. Normally this sort of thing wasn’t something Keith liked, but after a month of not seeing them, it was much appreciated.

They wanted to know all about the universes Keith had been to, pestering him as to whether they’d been there too. For the sake of not exposing himself, he lied. A lot. In truth, he’d only seen the members of his team other than Lance in passing, most of the time.

“You were a _werewolf_?” Lance exclaimed, leaning forward in his seat and gaping at Keith. “That’s sick!”

“What did you do in most of these universes?” Pidge interrupted, nosy as always. _Not the time, Pidge._

“Oh, you know,” Keith said with a shrug. “Tried to blend in. Hoped to come back home.”

“Except for that thing you feared, huh?” said Lance, making Keith stiffen.

“What?” he said sharply.

Lance shrugged. “That’s what the queen said, right? So what, were you fearless in these other universes? Honestly, I didn’t think you were scared of anything.”

“Everyone’s scared of something,” Keith said.

“But you’re not anymore?” Hunk asked. “I mean, that’s why you’re back, right?”

Keith thought about it. He was definitely still scared, especially after visiting with the queen, but it was nothing like it’d been before. Was it the dragon Lance specifically that’d expunged the last of his fear? Or the culmination of all the Lance’s he’d experienced thus far, the last one having just been the tipping point?

“I mean, it’s still daunting, but yeah,” Keith decided. “I definitely don’t think of it the way I did before.”

Everyone seemed especially curious, but they had the tact not to press further, not to ask Keith what exactly it was that he feared. He appreciated that.

Not long after, Shiro was announcing that it’d been a long, exciting day, and that they all had better get a good night’s rest so they could properly celebrate Keith’s return the next day. Hunk was already talking to Coran about a dinner idea he had planned and Keith couldn’t help but smile. It was good to be home.

Naturally, he and Lance ended up walking back to their rooms together, considering they were right across the hall from each other.

“So,” Lance said, his voice carrying a specific weight to it that made Keith’s insides clench. _He knows!_  a voice in the back of his head screamed. “You said you saw a dragon, right? What other crazy universes did you experience?”

“I was a werewolf, in one of them,” Keith ventured. “I got out of there as fast as I could though. I was right about to turn.”

“That’s terrifying,” Lance said, his hushed voice sounding more awed than terrified.

“I was a popular football player. And a movie star. And a wizard at Hogwarts.”

“You’re fucking with me,” Lance scoffed.

“I’m a hundred percent serious,” Keith deadpanned. “I was just glad I knew a few things from the books.”

“How does that even work?” Lance demanded. “That’s a made up universe in _our_  universe.”

Keith shrugged. “Ask the queen,” he said, before realizing that the both of them had stopped. They’d reached their rooms and halted in the middle of the floor so that they could keep talking. Should Keith tell him now? His heart protested at the idea, banging against his ribcage like it could escape. Or maybe it was encouraging it, trying to escape so that it could get to Lance.

“You’ll have to tell me about these universes in more detail in the morning,” Lance said, grinning at Keith expectantly.

“Sure,” Keith said, unable to fight back the yawn that had been building within him. He’d slept so rarely throughout the realities he’d visited, his body hardly needing it when the ones he’d taken over had already been well-rested, but now that he was home, he felt an exhaustion deep within his bones. He couldn’t wait to be back in his own bed, assured in the fact that he was going to wake up there again in the morning. That he would continue to do so day after day, home with his team for good.

“It’s gonna be weird, not seeing you,” Lance muttered, his gaze faraway.

“What?” Keith said.

Lance blinked, seeming to realize he’d spoken aloud. And then he flushed. “Just, uuuh,” he said. “I mean, sometimes if I couldn’t sleep, for whatever reason, I’d take a walk around the castle. Maybe check up on you, or something.”

“Oh,” Keith said. He’d heard Lance’s voice countless times, but he’d never really stopped to think what that _meant_. That Lance was spending an abundance of his free time with him.

“Yeah, kind of pointless, I know,” Lance said, laughing self deprecatingly. He reached up a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. “It’s not like you needed checking up on. You were always just standing there, looking kind of pale and freaky.”

“It wasn’t pointless,” Keith said, ignoring Lance’s joke. “Sometimes… I could hear you guys. It was comforting.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. So… thank you,” Keith said, managing a small smile. Lance was just gaping at him, before his brain seemed to catch up with everything.

“Oh, yeah, totally, no problem!” he said hastily. And then, “Good night!”

“Night, Lance,” Keith said. He wondered if Lance had realized that Keith had been staring at his lips.

\--

Keith woke up the next morning well rested but still sleepy. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he pulled on his shoes and padded down the hall, thankfully remembering the way to the kitchen even when his eyes were closed half the time.

Surprisingly, Lance was in the kitchen already. Or maybe it was later than Keith thought. Either way, Lance had his elbow planted on the counter that Hunk usually cooked on with his cheek smushed up against his palm. He looked adorable, his hair not yet styled and kind of fluffy where it hung over his eyes. He was silently scrolling through a hologram before him, some kind of news program Pidge had helped Coran to install. It delivered bits and pieces from the news systems of the planets they’d liberated.

“Morning,” Keith said, making Lance draw in a breath through his nose in surprise. He was quick to smile when he actually laid eyes on Keith, though, reaching his arms above him in a stretch.

“Good mornin’,” he groaned, arms still extended above him. Keith rolled his eyes and turned to the coffee maker. And paused.

Their coffee maker — or should he say, _previous_  coffee maker — was not one to write home about. Hunk had made it with his limited knowledge of what coffee makers should look and act like, and they hadn’t had anything _quite_  close enough to coffee beans to properly replicate the taste.

But here, sitting on the counter looking entirely too innocent, was an honest to God coffee machine. Like the ones Keith had seen a lot of, recently. There was no plug, because the ship didn’t run on electricity, but the coffee maker was glowing faintly, like everything else did that operated on the castle. Somehow, Hunk and Pidge must’ve hooked this thing up to the castle’s energy.

“Oh yeah,” Lance said, apparently taking in Keith’s odd state of silence and dramatic staring and realizing it for what it was. “Pidge found that like a week ago in a space mall. Turns out Hunk’s pseudo coffee beans weren’t so horrible after all — it was just the machine.”

“Awesome,” Keith said, and without thinking about it, he grabbed two mugs.

“Make me one?” Lance said, and Keith blinked, realizing he’d already been intending to do so.

“Sure,” he said, and he brewed the coffee and filled the cups and doctored one up way more than any normal human should want their coffee doctored. It was a rhythm he was used to.

Moments later, he was pressing the coffee into Lance’s hands at the same time that he pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, already turning away to go sit at the table before realizing what he’d done. He froze.

“Keith?” Lance said quietly.

“Um,” Keith said loudly. He spun back around to look at Lance, before immediately wishing he hadn’t spun back around to look at Lance, because he was red all the way to the tips of his ears, and his fingers were pressed delicately against his mouth.

“You just kissed me,” Lance pointed out. Several voices seemed to be screaming things in Keith’s mind, but the one that was the loudest was the one saying, _no time like the present_.

“Um,” Keith repeated intelligently. He’d meant to tell Lance about his feelings _before_  kissing him. Finally, brilliantly, he added, “Yeah.”

Lance swallowed. “Okay,” he said. “Any particular reason, or...?”

Fuck it. It was now or never, and Keith has waited long e-fuckin’-nough for this opportunity.

“Sorry, I’m just so used to doing that, these days,” he said. And Lance just looked at him. Blinked. Frowned.

“Wait,” he said. “So you mean, like...” He glanced to the side, and then back to Keith again. When he spoke, his voice was lowered. Like he was telling a secret. “Like, in the other universes?”

Keith drew on some of the courage he’d been able to muster over many of the past universes, clinging to it with shaking hands. Because this wasn’t just another universe, just another Lance. This was _his_  Lance. The one he really needed to win over.

He stepped forward, leaning against the counter in front of him. “Yeah,” he said softly. “What I was scared of... was coming back home. To you.”

Lance was gaping at him.

“I really, really like you, Lance,” Keith said seriously. He reached forward, just barely brushing his fingers against Lance’s.

“I...” Lance said, the silence that followed absolutely deafening. “Am _so jealous_  of all the Lances that kissed you first.”

And all the tension melted out of Keith’s body. A laugh escaped him, and his head fell forward and landed on Lance’s shoulder, Lance rubbing his back as he laughed.

“I can’t believe _this_  is what you were scared of,” he muttered, his hand having come up to play with Keith’s hair. He hummed curiously, giving it a tug. “This is surprisingly soft.”

Keith shook his head, the words dredging up memories he couldn’t quite place. “I spent the first, like, ten universes convincing myself that the fact that we were dating was a fluke. And after that I convinced myself that ours was the only reality that was different.”

Lance lightly shoved him away so that he could look into Keith’s eyes. “You’ve gotta be _blind_  to miss the way I feel about you,” he said, shaking his head disbelievingly. “Hunk and Pidge tease me about it all the time. They say you’re out of my league.”

Keith scoffed, inexplicably angry at his friends for what was most definitely a joking comment. “It’s the other way around,” Keith insisted, and not just so that he could see that blush rise up to Lance’s ears again.

“Shut up,” Lance said. “And kiss me again. Unlike you, I’ve only gotten to experience that once.”

\--

The thing about dating Lance was Keith _still_  wasn’t quite used to it. This was ridiculous, he knew, since he’d been experiencing it for almost a month straight, but this was _different_. This Lance was here to _stay_. And there wasn’t all this guesswork involved, wasn’t a moment of blinding panic as he tried to figure out just what the fuck was going on and how he was supposed to fix it. Instead, things were slower and steadier. As slow and steady as things could be when you were dating Lance, anyway.

Lance was hilariously flustered (and later, admittedly turned on) at the knowledge that Keith had already had sex with some of his counterparts. He’d huffed and pouted and ignored Keith for about an hour before he’d come crawling back, asking how it had been, anyway. Apparently, he was a virgin, which Keith thought was only fair. He’d lost his own virginity to Lance, anyway.

The rest of the team was alarmingly unsurprised about the development of their relationship. Apparently many of them had expected something like this to happen in time, which Keith just found offensive. Why couldn’t the queen have forced him to talk to _them_  instead of sending him through different realities? You know, other than the fact that he definitely wouldn’t have believed them?

Now, Keith was enjoying a rare moment of peace alone in his room. It’d been two weeks since he’d returned to his own universe, and Lance had been monopolizing his time in order to make out with him and eke out all the details of the universes Keith had been to in equal measure. He enjoyed listening to how Keith had wooed him and how different the realities and their relationships had been. When Keith revealed that the dragon he’d seen had actually _been_  Lance, he’d gotten tackled, Lance shaking him desperately in a bid for more details, _stat_.

Of course, as was per usual nowadays, Keith’s room wasn’t necessarily Keith’s room. It was just the place that he could often be discovered by Lance, not that he was arguing. He quite liked it when Lance sought him out.

Except for when he was reading a romance novel.

The door slid open and Lance burst in already halfway through a sentence, also not unusual, despite the fact that Keith had had to tell him time and time again to _wait, start over_ , and Keith shoved his book under the covers. This made Lance’s slow to a stop, cocking his head.

“You’re wearing pants,” he pointed out. “So I definitely didn’t just walk in on you masturbating.”

Keith flushed. “I would’ve locked my door,” he said.

“Or come and gotten me,” Lance added. And then he squinted suspiciously. “So what the hell are you hiding?”

Keith immediately wiped all expression from his face. “Nothing,” he lied.

Lance grinned. “You’re hiding something,” he said, apparently excited by this fact.

“No I’m not.”

“You are,” Lance said, stepping closer.

Keith shifted subtly, trying to sit on top of his book.

“I’m not.”

“You are.” Lance stepped closer. And closer.

“I was masturbating with my clothes on,” Keith lied, and Lance jumped onto his bed, burying his hands in the covers.

“No!” Keith shouted, wrestling him, but Lance had a big family and many older siblings. He’d gotten squirrely in his years spent with them, which resulted in him finding Keith’s book in an embarrassing amount of time and holding it aloft. It was one that Keith had found at a market many planets ago. He didn’t know how books from Earth had ended up in space and he’d never bothered to question it, because the fact that they were out there meant he could read them.

But now Lance was holding said book — a book with a shirtless man featured on the cover — and he was grinning like he’d won the lottery. “No way,” he said quietly.

“Give it back!” Keith shouted, diving on top of Lance, who stretched his arms out as far as he could as he continued to examine the book.

“Keith, is this a romance novel?”

“No!”

“It is!” Lance cajoled, laughing, his expression one of glee.

Keith groaned, giving up and flopping down on top of Lance entirely, his face burning. Lance paid him no mind, running a hand through his hair absently. “Read it to me,” he said.

“Read it yourself,” Keith grumbled.

“I’m dyslexic, it would take me too long,” Lance said, and Keith remembered another Lance from another universe telling him that same thing. “C’mon, read it to me.”

“You’re making fun of me.”

“I absolutely am not,” Lance assured him. And so, with a giant huff and a blush that refused to go away, they rearranged themselves on the bed. Keith leaned against the pillows and Lance cuddled into him and Keith went back to the very first page, already knowing how the story was going to end, despite the fact that he’d never read this one before.

They were terribly predictable, after all, not that he really saw that as a bad thing. Sometimes it was good to know how the story was going to end.


End file.
